 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Overview |
| Introduction |
| Potential Food Hazards |
| Quality Assurance Systems |
| Supermarket Quality Requirements |
| Health and Safety for Smallholders |
| Training |
| Record Keeping |
| Useful Websites |
|
|
HAZARD ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a system used by the food industry to ensure that all food consumed is safe to eat. HACCP is a systematic approach to hazard identification, assessment of risk and control. When implemented correctly, it ensures that every step in the process to grow, harvest, prepare and market vegetables for export results in food that is safe to eat. Thus, whether the produce comes from a smallholder or a commercial farm, it will be safe to eat if it has been routed through an HACCP-controlled process.
A thorough understanding of the whole process is required in order to identify the most appropriate means of monitoring critical control points (CCPs). Tests which yield rapid results are preferable to traditional lengthy microbiological methods. It is therefore, important to assemble a multidisciplinary team of specialists who can analyse the whole process using their specific expertise, and who can contribute to the overall HACCP study. The principles of HACCP re-inforce partnership along the supply chain, enabling each partner (grower - small or large, exporter, importer, and retailer) to share the responsibility for providing safe, high-quality food to consumers. Effective partnerships build trust in the supply chain, which lowers the risk of smallholder exclusion from export markets.
Regulatory bodies have recognized the usefulness of HACCP and its 'principles' as they have been incorporated into legislative requirements by both the EU, the General Hygiene regulations for managing food safety (93/43/EEC), and the United States Federal Drug Administration (USFDA) (CPR - 123)
Further details on the EU food safety directives and policy developments can be found on links from http://europa.eu.int/pol/food/index_en.htm.
A guide to US legal requirements regarding food safety is available at http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/fsggov.html
There are seven principles incorporated into the HACCP system (Codex, 2001). These are described in the table below.
Establishing an HACCP system
More information: Biological, chemical and physical hazards; GAP.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|