Food Safety Plan and HACCP Principles

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to food safety plans and HACCP principles.

Food Safety Plan

A written document that describes how to control food safety hazards in a food processing establishment.

HACCP + Describe

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, a systematic food safety system designed to identify, control, and prevent hazards in food production.

Critical Control Point (CCP)

CCPs are the steps in your process where a control measure is or can be applied to essential prevent, eliminate or reduce the identified food safety hazard(s) to an acceptable level

Ex: cooking

• cooling

• dehydration

• formulation

• pasteurization

• sifting

Hazard

A material or agent that can make food unsafe to eat and cause illness, injury, or death.

Biological Hazard

Microorganisms or toxins that can cause illness when ingested.

Chemical Hazard

Chemical agents that may cause injury or illness when ingested or inhaled.

ex: pesticides

Physical Hazard

Solid materials that can cause injury if present in food.

ex: Glass

Cross-contamination

The physical movement of harmful microorganisms or allergens from one person, object, food, or place to another.

Corrective Actions

Actions taken to correct a production that shows a Critical Limit has not been met.

Monitoring Procedures

Observations or measurements used to assess whether a Critical Limit is met.

Verification Procedures

Procedures used to confirm that a control measure at a CCP is working correctly.

Record Keeping

Maintaining records to demonstrate compliance with the food safety plan and provide evidence of safe food production.

Critical Limits

Standards that must be met to ensure the hazards do not occur at a Critical Control Point.

After identifying the CCPs in your process, you need to define the critical limits that have to be met at this step to ensure that a hazard is prevented, eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level.

It is important that your critical limits: be supported by scientific data, meet Canadian standards and guidelines as applicable

Critical limits should be specific and measurable. Can be either qualitative or quantitative

Ex of critical limits:

• a minimum temperature and time that must be achieved to ensure destruction of a pathogenic bacteria

• a specific pH to prevent the growth of bacteria

• a level of a preservative to control the growth of bacteria

• the minimum size of detectable foreign substances to prevent extraneous matter hazards

Shelf-life

The duration a product remains safe and suitable for consumption under proper storage conditions.

Best Before Date

The date printed on products indicating when they should be consumed for optimal quality.

Allergen Control

Measures taken to identify and minimize the risk of allergen cross-contamination.