HACCP: Requirement and sanitation

Term paper

Azimah, H.1 , Ahmad, S.H.1

1

Crop Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Abstract

The increasing consumption of vegetables and fruit has resulted in increasing concern by the food industry about the safety of agriculture produce. Quality assurance procedures covering all the processing steps, from farm to table, have become essential. This review contains information on the main factors responsible for the elaboration of a quality assurance system for produce plants mainly about hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP). The HACCP system is an internationally recognized system used to manage food safety. It has been approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1963) as a tool that can be used to systematically identify hazards specific to individual products and processes and describe measures for their control to ensure the safety of agricultural products. The HACCP system is a dynamic system, capable of accommodating change such as changes in equipment design, processing procedures and technological advancements.

Introduction Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP): a work in progress is a perfect description of where the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) stands (Billy, 2001).

For minimally processed commodity, quality assurance systems by the producers becomes obligatory and crucial in order to decrease the physical, chemical and microbiological risks associated with the product, from the planting and harvest in the field to the processing in the industrial unit, putting into practice the from farm to table food safety concept, standardizing the different process activities in addition to creating conditions for an effective tracer system. This indicates that the adoption of good manufacturing practices (GMP), sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP) and the hazard analysis and critical control point system (HACCP), already exhaustively discussed in the food industry, must necessarily be accompanied by quality measures for the primary product (raw material), conducted by the good agricultural practices (GAP) in order to apply a quality assurance system for the agricultural products.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) From the review journal entitled, Quality assurance requirements in produce processing by da Cruz et al. (2006), the HACCP system is a science-based system created to identify specific hazards and actions to control them in order to ensure food safety. It can be considered as efficient tool for both food industry and health authorities to prevent foodborne diseases (Vela and Fernandez, 2003). HACCP identifies the potential avenues of contamination and establishes control measures to eliminate or minimize these hazards. Furthermore, HACCP also documents the effectiveness of the program. This system provides a more specific and critical approach to the control of the hazards than achievable by traditional inspection and quality control procedures (International Fresh-Cut Produce Association,1999).

Principles, requirement and sanitation. There 4 stages in application of HACCP in food business (Mortimore and Wallace, 1998). In stage 1 it requires effective preparation and planning. Before implementation and application of 7 principle, the preparation that should be done is the training HACCP team. It is essential and should be provided by academician, lecturers or former hygiene trainer and so on. On the other hand, stage 2 is the application of 7 principles. For stage 3 it requires the implementation of HACCP study output and for stage 4 is the ongoing maintenance of HACCP system. The successful of HACCP implementation in stage 3 requires few actions. That is training and education, monitoring of critical control points (CCP), taking action when it is required and recording the results achieved. Last stage of the 4 stage required in HACCP system is the ongoing maintenance. It is required if the implementation of HACCP is consistent achievement. The HACCP system includes a series of inter-related steps, inherent to industrial food processing, including all the operations occurring from production to consumption of the food. The HACCP plans for minimally processed vegetables are well established and have been used successfully by processors for years, being based on the same seven principles and risk categories common in the control of meat, poultry and fish. These principles are conducted in the following order: 1) conduct a hazard analysis 2) determine the critical control points 3) establish the critical limits; 4) establish monitoring procedures 5) establish corrective actions

6) establish verification procedures and 7) establish record-keeping and documentation procedures. The safety of foodstuffs is mainly ensured by preventive approaches, such as the implementation of good hygiene practices or application of procedures based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP). Some organization has recognized HACCP as an effective tool to improve safety standards, which assesses hazards and establishes control systems that focus on preventive measures instead of relying primarily on end-product testing (FAO, 1998). It was initially developed as a systematic approach to identify, evaluate and control steps in food manufacturing that are critical to product safety. HACCP system efficiency and success depends on competency of the people in operation system and development people who responsible with prerequisite programmes which supports it. To be successful, there should be overriding internal belief in HACCP system once the the system is properly implemented. The critical success factors would be proper preparation and planning, operates and developed by well-trained and educated people, belief in the approach by all personnel and a commitment to shared to food safety.

Benefits and burdens There are many benefits of HACCP systems. The confidence of the agricultural product was put together if the company works through the process of getting HACCP certification as respect to understanding the food safety assurance and it is affecting their business. Moreover, the efficiency of HACCP in food operation also had some of the unexpected results which save the company money (Taylor, 2001). HACCP methodology should provides a formal, structural, efficient, highly farm specific, comparatively low in cost, and certifiable way to identify, assess

and manage quality hazards (biological, chemical, physical) by control and monitorizating in and on farm situation, and which does not require much documentation (Boersema et al., 2009). HACCP systems also help solving problems through cooperation in the companys team. Its an offer a powerful guide to future action in other areas of business operation. It is important to remember that HACCP plans for minimally processed vegetables have no thermal death phase for the destruction of pathogenic microorganisms, making adoption of the plan even more important (Howard & Gonzalez, 2001). In addition, HACCP also represent the effectiveness of management tool in food security and offers a legal defence if there is outbreak of food borne disease. With HACCP certification, the company could have expand their markets as many contracts required certification of HACCP systems from their suppliers. Taylor (2001) reported additional difficulties that may be encountered in the implementation of the HACCP system in minimally processed vegetable lines. The majority are small to medium sized operations, employing just a few workers who accumulate many tasks and have no knowledge of food safety. Thus, implementation of the system may be tedious and confusing and associated with loss of time and generation of excess paper, since the existing literature is directed to larger companies with totally different realities. From paper, Implementation of HACCP to control the influence of milking equipment and cooling tank on the milk quality by Vilar et al. (2011), describes how the development and implementation of the HACCP system could be carried out in all the steps/stages through the milk production process at dairy cattle farms from Galicia to improve the hygienic and sanitary milk quality, for example, to avoid the introduction and/or increase of bacterial count (BC) or zoonotic pathogens, and the presence of residues of detergents and disinfectants. However, as a

consequence of the complexity of milk production at farms, the methodology was focused on the steps/areas related with the milking equipment and cooling tank.

Conclusions The HACCP system centers its attention on critical operations in which control is essential, differing from the traditional inspection control, directed mostly at factors of an aesthetic nature or attending norms that frequently have no significance with respect to public health. In this way, one avoids the false sensation of safety frequently associated with inspections, in which dangerous practices are frequently not detected during the brief infrequent visits. An HACCP System should be developed for every food production line and adapted for the individual products and processes. Useful guides containing generic plans are available, which can aid in the development of plans and processes. Implementation of the HACCP system to be carried out at a later step and should be accompanied by specific strategies appropriate for the reality of these establishments, resulting in the smallest possible number of critical points so as to make the operation viable, in addition to external support to verify the feasibility of the operation. The use of this system can be integrated and even be supported with the usual management programs performed in farms such as the good agricultural practices (GAP) that are considered basics of HACCP. In this way, it should be possible to implement a quality assurance system into the process, resulting in a safe product with no risks to public health.

References Cruz, A.G., Sergio A.C., and Maria C.A. M. (2006). Quality assurance requirements in produce processing. Trends in Food Science & Technology 17 (2006) 406411

Howard, L. R., & Gonzalez, A. R. (2001). Food safety and produce operation: What is the future? Hortscience, 36(1), 3339.

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp

International Fresh-Cut Produce Association. (1999). Food safety guidelines for the fresh-cut produce industry. 125 pp. Mortimore, S. E., and Smith, R. A. (1998). Standardized HACCP training: assurance for food authorities. Food control, 9, 141-145.

Taylor, E. (2001). HACCP in small companies: benefit or burden? Food Control, 12, 217222.

Vela, A. R., & Fernandez, J. M. (2003). Barriers for the development and implementation of HACCP plans: Results from a Spanish regional survey. Food Control, 14(5), 333337.

Vilar, M. J., Rodr guez-Otero, J. L., Sanjuan, M. L., Dieguez, F.J., Varela, M., Yus, E. 2011, Implementation of HACCP to control the influence of milking equipment and cooling tank on the milk quality. Trends in Food Science & Technology xx (2011) 1-9.