Safe Food Handling Practices and Regulations

Vocabulary flashcards covering safe food handling practices, types of food safety hazards, and the 7 steps of HACCP.

Hazard

Something that is dangerous and likely to cause harm.

Food Safety Hazard

Biological, chemical, or physical hazards that may be introduced into food by people, poor food handling, and/or contaminated equipment.

Biological Hazards

Any microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, yeasts, molds, and parasites that cannot be seen by the naked eye and require food, moisture, and warmth to reproduce.

Chemical Hazards

Toxic substances that may occur naturally or may be added during the processing of food.

Physical Hazards

Foreign materials unintentionally introduced to food products (e.g., metal fragments in ground meat) or naturally occurring objects (e.g., bones in fish) that are hazardous to the consumer.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)

A system put in place to reduce the chances of food being unsafe to eat, ensuring safe handling from purchase to receiving, storing, and serving.

Conduct a Hazard Analysis

The first step in the HACCP process, which includes recognizing any hazards to food safety and listing them.

Food Flow

The path menu items and ingredients follow through a food establishment, starting with purchasing from approved sources, receiving, storing, issuing, thawing, cooking, holding, cooling, reheating, and serving.

Critical Control Point (CCP)

A 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.

Critical Limit

An observable or measurable criterion that separates acceptability from unacceptability of the food in relation to a control measure at a critical control point.

Monitoring

A planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a critical control point is under control and to produce an accurate record for future use in verification.

Corrective Action

A specific action taken when the results of monitoring at the critical control point indicate that the limit was not met.

Initial Validation

A part of verification procedures that demonstrates the plan is scientifically sound, ensures all hazards have been identified, and evaluates technical information to support the HACCP system.

Record Keeping Procedures

The seventh step of the HACCP process, establishing documentation procedures to maintain detailed records of the food safety system.