Concept that food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use.

Food safety is a major concern of all food industries.

Food borne illness present major problems both in health and economic terms.

-> Legislation require all food businesses to demonstrate a commitment to food safety through an appropriate management strategy consisting of comprehensive control procedures – a “Food Safety Strategy” to ensure the production of and trading in safe food of a high quality. 

a mandatory regulatory activity of enforcement by national or local authorities to provide consumer protection and ensure that all foods during production, handling, storage, processing, and distribution are safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption; conform to safety and quality requirements; and are honestly and accurately labelled as prescribed by law.” 

Control is transferred from end-product testing to monitoring at critical control points on the production line.

Structured preventative system.

Operation controlled by operatives working on the production line and involve all level of staff.

Control is cheap.
Forms part of a due diligence defence.

- Traditional meat inspection aimed at combating classical foodborne diseae

- traditional MI fails to identify contamination of foods with micro organisms

- flexibility to adapt to most of the type of businesses 

Structure and Maintenance

Water Quality
 Cleaning
Pest control Personal Health &

Hygiene

 Training

 Temperature controls

 Calibration Document controls 

1. Conduct a Hazard Analysis.

2. Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs).

3. Establish Critical Limits.

4. Establish a Monitoring System.

5. Establish a Corrective Action

   System.

6. Establish Verification System.

7. Establish Documents concerning

   all procedures and Records. 

: a function of the probability of an adverse health effect and the severity of that effect consequential to a hazard.

Has two independent components: 

1. impact

2. liklihood

RISK X = Impact (Z) + Likelihood ( Y)  

A process consisting of three interconnected components:
◦ Risk Assessment

◦ Risk Management
◦ Risk Communication 

Hazard Identification:

 Is the process of identifying hazards in order to plan for, avoid, or mitigate their impacts.

◦ Aetiology
◦ Epidemiology ◦ Pathogenicity

Hazard Characterization:

 The qualitative and or quantitative evaluation of the nature of the adverse health effects associated with the biological, chemical and physical agents which may be present in food.

◦ Dose-Response Assessment

Reasonably and foreseeable hazards.

Specific hazards.
Examples of plant specificity.

Consider shift in hazards of public health significance. 

- Conduct risk analysis (to determine which hazards are of such a nature that their prevention, elimination or reduction to acceptable levels is essential to the production of safe food).

Identify control measures. 

Action or activity that can be used to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.

Identify process controls at each step.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). 

High impact = potentially catastrophic effect or accident (e.g. death, hospitalization, etc.)

 Low impact = only minor effect or “first aid” (e.g. very mild symptoms of disease, etc.)

 Medium impact = simply not the other two (e.g. symptoms of disease with rest at home, etc.)

 Impact factors: scientific background 

High likelihood = virtually certain to occur.

 Low likelihood = small chance of occurring, likely to occur only in the long term.

 Medium likelihood = simply not the other two.

 Likelihood Factors (epidemiology, experience, knowledge of the process, people, site...). 

Risk left behind after we’ve gone as far as we can go or after we’ve gone as far as we are prepared to go.

Must act until the risk is either eliminated or the residual risk is deemed tolerable (retained risk). 

• The pre-requisites to an effective risk management are:

  ◦ Validity
  ◦ Reliability
  ◦ Comparability

•   ... process of weighing policy alternatives in consultation with interested parties, considering risk assessment and other legitimate factors to select the most appropriate preventive and control options. 

Interactive exchange of information and opinion throughout the risk analysis process as regards hazards and risks, risk-related factors and risk perceptions, among all interested parties, including the explanation of risk assessment findings and the basis of risk management decisions. 

Step at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.

Often by decision tree or professional judgement. 

• Critical limits are established to determine whether a CCP remains in control. If a critical limit is exceeded or violated, the products affected are deemed to be potentially unsafe.

•   Measurable/observable.

•   Must meet minimum legal requirements. 

Quarantine product since last good check (the past).

 Re-establish control (the present).

 Investigate the reason for failure and upgrade systems accordingly (the future). 

• Obtaining objective evidence that elements of the HACCP plan are effective.

•   “Am I doing what I say and can I prove it?”

•   External or internal audits.

•   Need for audit trained personnel.

•   Microbiological verification. 

• Scheduled (minimum annually).

•   Following internal changes (line alteration, altered pre-requisite programme etc).

•   Following external changes (new legislation, new information on hazards, following external audit etc). 

Consider:
1. Written hygiene policies, procedures

and instructions.

2. Documentation.

3. Records.

Think about the overall HACCP based food safety management system.