Making sure HACCP is not a hassle

About six years ago, two food scientists (Yasmine Motarjemi–now with Nestlé–and Fritz Kaeferstein) noticed something odd. Outbreaks of food-borne disease should be going down, because of the increasing use of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) technique. But there were still major outbreaks. There are many possible explanations. Perhaps the most worrying is that HACCP is misunderstood, and that makes it less useful. More and more food producers and processors have HACCP programmes. Although, no-one’s quite sure how many. Few statistics are available.

‘Initially, senior management did not see the benefits of HACCP. This suddenly changed when a large client demanded a HACCP plan. No orders would be placed until such a plan was presented.’ NIGEL ROUTE, CONSULTANT

And where they are, they’re not encouraging. Officials in Singapore, for example, say just 20 per cent of food manufacturers there have adopted HACCP–fewer than in countries such as Australia and the US. Singapore’s junior minister for trade and industry, Heng Chee How, says: ‘Our target is to increase the adoption rate in Singapore to over 50 per cent in the next three years.’

Some firms use HACCP voluntarily. Others have had it forced on them. Governments increasingly make the private-sector responsible for food safety. Manufacturers and retailers (as brand owners of private-label products) find themselves accountable. Most major supermarket and shopping chains in Europe now require either a HACCP certificate, or retail standard documentation (BRC, IFS, EFSIS and so on). This practice is spreading to Asia. Mr Heng says: ‘Food manufacturers must commit to food safety if they wish to gain the trust of their customers and have access to overseas markets that demand HACCP certification.’

Not all companies have that vision. Nigel Route, a HACCP consultant, remembers one ingredients firm in the late 1990s: ‘Initially, senior management did not see the benefits of HACCP. It was seen as redtape and of no practical value.

‘This suddenly changed when a large client–a manufacturer–demanded a HACCP plan. Until such a plan was presented, no order would be placed. Well, that changed the situation.’ Mr Route says the effectiveness and credibility of HACCP are too often undermined by needless mistakes in setting up and managing the programmes. ‘The most important success factor is teamwork,’ he says. ‘Most SMEs [small and medium enterprises] do not have the money to hire consultants. They have to do it themselves. Through teamwork the workload can be shared. ‘The right mix is essential. Preferably, representatives of all departments are involved, including senior management. In my case, the executive soon lost interest and frequently skipped meetings.’ Information is also essential to make HACCP work. Trade associations can help. Mr Route also advises HACCP team leaders with low budgets to use the internet. ‘There is an enormous amount of information out there. The downside is that one has to sift through it and make a selection. [This] should be done by the HACCP team and not by an individual. This makes the team aware which aspects are important and which are not.’ Maps are important. Start with a flow diagram which breaks the process down into steps, ‘More often than not, companies forget specific processing steps, such as the adding of an ingredient or handling,’ Ms Motarjemi says. ‘[That] might incorporate possible CCPs.’ Again, teamwork counts. ‘All relevant personnel—from machine operators to fork-lift truck drivers—should be involved in making the map to make it accurate,’ Mr Route says. ‘If I had drawn the map all by myself, surely certain hazards would have been omitted. On the other hand, it would have included hazards which would eventually turn out to be non-existent.’ HACCP is multidisciplinary. As well as operational staff, microbiologists, food technologists, veterinarians may be involved. Many companies don’t have the resources to employ them all. But customers are often happy to give advice and suggestions. ‘Customer audits proved to be very helpful,’ Mr Route says. After reading them he ‘contacted the technical departments of our customers. They in turn advised me on how to implement specific measures regarding HACCP.’ Ms Motarjemi says there are more mistakes to avoid in the later steps of adopting HACCP: keeping records to validate the process, and verification that the process is working. ‘Without validation, one cannot be sure that control measures will work and are efficient,’ she says. But she adds that it doesn’t always mean sophisticated scientific studies. Reading the regulations may be enough. The final step in a HACCP programme is verification. This means checking that tests (to see if the HACCP plan is being followed) are working. Finally, Ms Motarjemi says to remember the rudiments of food preparation: ‘For instance, for hand hygiene–a universal and fundamental rule of food safety– we do not need sophisticated systems. If [every] food handler understands the basic rules of hygiene and their reasons, we would be better off and major part of the food-borne diseases would be prevented,’ she says. ‘Simple housekeeping and maintaining order may be important for food safety. It can prevent mistakes–such as taking a chemical for salt or using ill-functioning equipment. Basic rules of hygiene and good housekeeping should be the very first step in all businesses, large or small.’ The History Of HACCP Back in 1959, the US space agency Nasa faced a simple but mundane problem when planning its first manned space flights: how and what was it going to feed astronauts. The American food company Pillsbury (now part of General Mills) was called into help. Food particles floating around the space capsule in zero gravity was one issue. That was relatively easy to solve. Pillsbury coated bitesize pieces of food to prevent crumbs. Then there was the problem of avoiding food poisoning. That’s unpleasant at the best of times. But imagine vomiting or having diarrhoea in a tiny space capsule. Investigators found that standard quality control methods weren’t good enough to prevent food contamination. So Pillsbury developed the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point concept. After the first lunar landing in 1969, Pillsbury adopted HACCP in its ordinary food plants. The firm developed training courses for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the mid-1970s, the FDA incorporated HACCP into its regulations on low-acid canned-food production. **LUCIEN JOPPEN IS EDITOR OF OUR SISTER MAGAZINE, FOOD ENGINEERING & INGREDIENTS.