7 Principles of HACCP

What is HACCP?

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. It is an internationally recognised system for ensuring the safety of food and is designed to identify food hazards and assess and control the risks. HACCP is considered the gold standard for ensuring food safety in the UK.

HACPP plans are designed to assess the risks in the food process and make sure the necessary controls are in place to ensure food safety and protect the consumer. It is a systematic method for managing food safety and is applied to every aspect of food production, from food production (e.g., growing vegetables) to manufacturing and consumption. An HACCP system helps food businesses identify what potential hazards could occur at different stages of the food process (e.g., storage, cooking, cooling) and what controls need to be in place to eliminate or reduce these hazards.

Hazards are any food contaminants that can affect the health of the consumer, such as:

• Biological hazards – Biological hazards are one of the most well-known food hazards as they are a common cause of food poisoning. Biological hazards include bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and yeast and exposure to any of these hazards can result in severe illness. Biological hazards can occur because of poor hygiene practices, for example, someone handling food while they are sick. They can also occur if food is not cooked or stored at the correct temperature.
• Chemical hazards – Chemical hazards occur when chemicals, such as cleaning products, fertilisers or pesticides, enter food. Although chemical hazards can occur at any stage, the risk may be higher during food production (e.g., fertiliser spilling onto fruits and vegetables when they are being grown) and during food preparation (e.g., if cleaning chemicals are left on equipment or surfaces or are sprayed close to food. Chemical hazards can also include food additives, heavy metals and natural toxins. A lesser-known type of chemical contamination can also occur if certain foods are cooked for too long and carcinogenic compounds are formed.
• Physical hazards – Physical hazards are physical objects that should not be in the food and could have negative health effects, for example, if they cause cuts or other injuries, are ingested or cause someone to choke. Physical hazards can be naturally occurring, such as bones, stones, pips or seeds (e.g., from fruit) and shells (e.g., from nuts or crustaceans. Physical hazards can also be unnatural, such as hair, fingernails, feathers, plastic, metal or dirt. Physical contamination can occur because of bad food practices (e.g., not wearing a hair covering when handling food, not keeping animals out of food preparation areas or not protecting the food from pests). Physical hazards can also occur because of the packaging, the equipment and machinery used or the premises. 
• Allergens – Allergen ingredients can contaminate non-allergenic food products if food businesses do not follow good food hygiene practices, for example, not storing food allergens separately in tightly covered containers, not cleaning properly or not using separate equipment for allergen and non-allergen foods. It is estimated that 6% of adults in the UK have a food allergy and if allergen hazards enter safe food, this could result in an allergic reaction and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis or even death. Common food allergens include cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, shellfish and wheat.

Food safety management is essential for all food businesses. Not only is it a legal requirement in the UK, but it also helps to ensure food is safe for consumption. HACCP is designed to prevent food safety problems and protect the general public.

What are the 7 Principles of HACCP?

The seven principles of HACCP are:

1. Identify the hazards
2. Determine the critical control points (CCPs)
3. Establish critical limits
4. Monitor each CCP
5. Establish corrective actions (if a CCP is out of control)
6. Establish verification procedures
7. Establish record-keeping and documentation procedures

All food businesses must have a food safety management plan that is based on the seven principles of HACCP. This allows them to identify and control hazards BEFORE they jeopardise the safety of food.

Detailed information about the 7 principles of HACCP is below.

Conduct a Hazard Analysis

The first step in HACCP is to conduct a hazard analysis to identify all possible hazards that could reasonably occur. A hazard analysis is similar to a risk assessment. When identifying possible hazards, it is essential to look at every step of the food handling operation and consider whether any biological, chemical, physical or allergenic hazards could be present, including:

• Food production (e.g., growing vegetables)
• Purchasing
• Delivery
• Product packaging
• Food storage
• Food preparation
• Cooking
• Chilling
• Serving
• Selling

At each step of the food process, it is necessary to identify what the potential hazards could be and how they could occur. This involves identifying the hazard, assessing what conditions and situations could lead to the hazard occurring, how likely each hazard is to occur and how significant the hazard could be. Some hazards will be considered high-risk and some will be considered not significant.

To ensure HACCP is as effective as possible, it is necessary to target the hazards which are most likely to occur and that, if they do occur, are more likely to lead to harm. This is known as hazard analysis. To perform hazard analysis, food businesses should follow the steps below:

Step 1: Identify hazards and write a hazard description

Once all the hazards have been identified, you should write a short description of what the hazard is and what would cause the hazard to occur. When identifying hazards, you should consider:

• How likely is it that the hazard is present in the raw materials?
• Can the hazard be introduced at any point during the food process?
• What is the likelihood of the hazard surviving the food process, multiplying or increasing in frequency?

Step 2: Score each hazard based on the severity of the hazard

You should then score each of the hazards on their potential severity, based on what the potential consequence of that hazard would be at the point of consumption:

• 1: Low severity

There is a low risk of serious harm if the food is consumed, although the hazard may affect the quality of the food.

• 2: Medium severity

The food hazard could cause harm if consumed, but this harm is unlikely to be too serious or life-threatening. For example, foreign objects that aren’t likely to cause a choking hazard, pathogenic bacteria that are unlikely to cause serious illness or pesticides in the food.

• 3: High severity

The food hazard could cause serious illness or be potentially life-threatening. For example, it may cause food poisoning, an allergic reaction, choking or internal bleeding.

Step 3: Determine the likelihood of each hazard occurring

A likelihood score is how likely it is that the hazard will occur. This stage is designed to ensure that you do not spend an excessive amount of time and money on hazards that are highly unlikely to occur. Food businesses need to score each hazard based on whether there is a low, medium or high likelihood of it occurring.

The severity score and likelihood score will be used to determine how significant each hazard is, which will then help the food business determine which hazards they need to focus on and what control measures need to be implemented. This is the most important step of the HACCP process because if hazards are not identified or are not properly assessed, this significantly increases the likelihood of the hazard occurring and the food becoming contaminated and unsafe to eat.

Determine Critical Control Points

The critical control point (CCP) is the specific point in the process where a control can be applied to prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level. The food business needs to decide which of the hazards they have identified require critical control points. Establishing a CCP means that controlling that hazard is critical to food safety. For example, cooking meat to the correct internal temperature is a CCP because it kills pathogens and is essential for protecting the consumer.

A critical control point is different to a control point. A control point is any step in the food process when a hazard can be controlled. A critical control point is the point at which a loss of control would lead to a significant and unacceptable amount of risk to the consumer. The CCP is considered to be the last point that food safety can be controlled.

One type of food process may have multiple potential hazards and multiple CCPs. Some examples of CCPs are:

• The point at which a food has spent too much time in the temperature danger zone (8°C – 63°C) and harmful bacteria may be rapidly growing.
• The point at which allergens are likely to have contaminated non-allergen food (e.g., they were stored together in one container).
• The point at which cooked food has not reached a high enough temperature for the recommended amount of time.
• The point at which cooked food can be safely cooled (i.e., for how long it should be cooled and to what temperature).
• The level of acceptable chemicals that are present.
• The point at which physical hazards could contaminate food.

Determining the CCPs can help food businesses implement control factors. Control factors can help to remove or prevent food hazards or reduce them to an acceptable level.

Establish Critical Limits

Critical limits are designed to help you identify when a critical control point (CCP) is no longer in control. The critical limit is the value which separates safe products from unsafe products. The value could be a maximum or minimum allowed limit. If the food breaches this limit in either direction, the critical control point will be violated.

Without the critical limit, the CCP cannot be properly controlled. The critical limit identifies the exact point when a food is no longer safe and being aware of this value allows the food business to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards.

The critical limit can be a value such as temperature or time or could be related to a physical, chemical or bacterial procedure, for example:

• The minimum temperature for cooked food (this will vary depending on the type of food).
• The minimum amount of time a food must stay at the cooking temperature.
• The minimum and maximum temperatures of the fridge and freezer.
• The maximum amount of time cooked food can be kept at room temperature.
• The acceptable amount of water activity (e.g., in foods such as jams and chutneys).
• The acceptable pH level.
• The maximum amount of salt or sugar content.

Establish Monitoring Procedures

Once the CCPs and the critical limits have been identified, it is necessary to establish a system to help you monitor how well the critical control points are being followed and what is happening at each control point. This helps you check that each CCP is staying within the critical limits (e.g., cooked food is staying within the safe temperature parameters).

The way you monitor the control points and how often monitoring takes place will depend on the type of food business and the size of the business, but for most food processes, monitoring should be an ongoing process.

Although it may not be feasible for all processes to be monitored constantly, for processes where this is possible, continuous monitoring can help the food business to immediately identify when a loss of control happens and take immediate action to correct this.

When setting the monitoring process, consider what needs to be monitored, how the monitoring will take place, how often the process should be monitored (e.g., continuously, once a day, etc) and who is responsible for monitoring.

Monitoring processes can be manual or automated. Examples of monitoring processes include:

• Checking that the temperatures of the fridge and freezer are within the safe limits (i.e., using a thermometer).
• Using an internal thermometer probe to check meat is cooked all the way through.
• Having temperature sensors in the oven.
• Using a timer to check how long the food has been cooling for.

Establish Corrective Actions

In the previous step, food businesses were required to establish monitoring procedures. But what happens when the monitoring procedures indicate that a CCP is out of control? This is where corrective actions come into play. A corrective action is the action that will be taken when a CCP is not within its critical limit. It is designed to correct the problem immediately and ensure no unsafe product reaches the consumer.

Although a loss of control shouldn’t be a frequent occurrence, there is always a possibility of it happening. Corrective controls ensure there is a process in place for if a CCP is breached. Corrective actions are designed to ensure the food is safe to eat and prevent the issue from continuing to happen or happening again. Corrective actions can be immediate (to help protect the food and recover control), short-term (any short-term procedures that are put into place to protect the food and prevent the issue from recurring) or long-term (to investigate the issue and make sure it doesn’t happen again).

Establish Verification Procedures

Principle 6 of the HACCP states that it is necessary to establish procedures to verify that the HACCP system is working effectively. Verification procedures also require you to review the food safety management system periodically and whenever there is a new change to your business operations, for example, if you change locations, get new equipment or change the types of food you are handling. You may then need to adjust the system accordingly.

As part of the verification procedure, you need to ensure that all necessary inspections and actions have been carried out to make sure the HACCP system is working effectively and ensure you have evidence to prove that the HACCP system is resulting in safe food products.

There are three stages to the verification procedure:

1. Initial validation – This occurs immediately after the HACCP plan is implemented to ensure it is working effectively. The relevant person (e.g., the HACCP supervisor) will assess the plan and perform inspections in the first three months of the plan coming into effect.
2. Ongoing verification – Continuous monitoring of the HACCP plan is essential to ensure it is still working effectively. Regular assessments, consistent monitoring and annual reviews can all maintain the effectiveness of the food safety management plan.
3. Reassessment – It is necessary to periodically review the plan and ensure that all aspects are still complying with the principles of HACCP.

Establish Record-Keeping and Documentation Procedures

To ensure the food safety management procedures have been implemented successfully and to prove the business’s compliance with HACCP, it is necessary to ensure you have good record-keeping and keep all relevant documentation.

You will need to keep any records that are related to how you developed, implemented and reviewed your HACCP plan. This could include:

• Information about the hazard analysis, including how hazards were identified and the process for creating a severity and likelihood score for each process.
• Details of the critical limit for each hazard.
• Records of staff training.
• Cleaning records.
• Temperature logs.
• The monitoring and review procedure and results.
• Any corrective actions.
• Verification procedures.

Any records and documents must also be well organised and easily accessible. All documentation should be updated regularly to ensure you always have access to the most recent information. Remember, documentation proves whether the HACCP principles have been implemented quickly and whether your food safety management plan is effective.

Why are the 7 Principles of HACCP Important?

The 7 principles of HACCP are important as they help to ensure food safety. Instead of relying on end-product testing (which can miss issues), HACCP focuses on identifying and controlling hazards before they can cause harm.

HACCP focuses on prevention over reaction. This means it emphasises preventing food safety issues rather than reacting to them after they happen. Detecting a problem after food has already been produced or shipped can lead to foodborne illness outbreaks, expensive recalls and legal consequences. Continuous monitoring ensures that any deviations from safety standards are caught immediately and problems can be fixed before the food moves further along the supply chain or reaches consumers. Corrective actions are set in advance, which ensures quick, appropriate responses when something goes wrong and helps to protect public health.

Food can become unsafe in many ways: biological (e.g., bacteria), chemical (e.g., allergens) or physical (e.g., glass shards). Knowing where risks lie is the first step to controlling them. HACCP targets the most vulnerable steps in the process where controls are essential to ensure safety. This helps food producers prioritise and allocate resources effectively.

Additionally, complying with HACCP is a legal requirement in the UK for food businesses and is covered under several laws, including:

• The Food Safety Act 1990 – The Food Safety Act covers food standards in the UK. Under the act, it is an offence to sell or serve food that could harm someone’s health. This means food must be what it claims to be (e.g., no contamination, spoilage or misleading ingredients). HACCP helps prevent this by identifying and controlling food safety hazards.
• Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 – These regulations enforce hygiene requirements for food businesses and provide the legal basis for enforcing food hygiene rules, including HACCP, in England. They state that food businesses must implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles. Under these regulations, HACCP applies to all stages of production, processing and distribution of food, from farm to fork.

The 7 principles of HACCP help to show compliance with UK law. If a food business is inspected, the inspector will ask to see evidence of how the business has followed the HACCP principles. The inspector may check that a HACCP system is in place and functional, records and HACCP procedures are maintained and staff are trained appropriately.