What is HACCP, and how do I implement it into my plant?
When working in the food industry, it is critical that you comply with a number of standards, including those related to health and safety. Without doing so, you risk harming consumers, delivering sub-par products, damaging your business reputation, potentially being shut down or subject to costly legal action.
Food manufacturers must abide by the correct compliance guidelines when processing their products. You may need to meet many standards, depending on the type of food you process, so it’s essential to be aware of what rules you must follow.
Regardless of the products you process, all food manufacturers will be required to meet the principals of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point guidance, otherwise known as HACCP. Through HACCP, you can improve the quality of your output while protecting consumers and avoiding the negative consequences of non-compliance.
This guide explores what HACCP is in more detail and how you can effectively implement it into your plant.
What is HACCP?
The Food Standards Agency created the concept of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point as a way for businesses to manage their safety measures when handling food. Under the guidance, there is a focus on identifying the hazards that might pose a risk to any food items in your business. In the case of manufacturers, this applies to any and all food products you process in your plant.
The ‘Critical Control Point’ part of HACCP refers to the areas in your plant where you need to implement controls to reduce risk. This means understanding where your products may run into harm or be subject to contamination, as well as the places that you can incorporate procedures to identify and address any issues.
What HACCP looks like exactly will vary from business to business. However, you must assess the risk in your work specifically and create processes that allow you to eliminate that risk as much as possible. This could include hygiene practices, product inspection and so on.
The Food Standards Agency provide further guidance, as well as a tool that enables you to create tailored plans for your business based on the work you do, although this is aimed at companies with fewer than 50 employees.
How do I implement HACCP into my production facility?
As we’ve already mentioned, HACCP will change between food handlers, and what your plant needs to do may differ from what another does. It’s essential to create a system that suits you and is adapted to your production requirements.
However, there are some general points to consider what seeking to incorporate HACCP into your plant. We’ve listed them below.
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Identify the risks to your materials
The first step to introducing HACCP is analysing the hazards present in your plant. This could include contamination of any kind (physical, chemical and microbiological) or any other issue that could make that product unsafe to eat or compromise its quality.
A hazard could occur at a number of stages during production, so it’s vital to account for your entire process. This includes the production line, storage, transportation and so on. Common sources of contamination could be the result of staff error, poor hygiene, broken machinery or lost parts, or cross-contamination between product lines, to name just a few.
It’s also worth remembering contamination could arise before your raw materials or ingredients even reach your plant. Depending on the materials you work with, contamination may come from external sources, such as pesticides and dirt for farmed products, bones in meat products, or even broken parts from shipping containers in the transportation process. Although your plant may not be at fault, it’s still your duty to address the problem before it ends up in the hands of your customers.
List out every potential hazard that could affect your products, leaving no stone unturned. This will enable you to understand the risks that your food safety management system needs to address.
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Identify your control points
Next, you need to identify the control points where you can manage the hazards facing your production.
There are two parts to this. Firstly, you need to consider any areas in your plant where there is a risk. This could include any manual handling in the production process where staff error or hygiene could compromise quality, systems that could break or incorrectly process lines. This will enable you to identify where you need to refine your processes and incorporate measures to create an environment of quality assurance.
You then need to consider the parts of your production line where you will take action to identify and eliminate flaws. This will include product inspection, which may occur at various stages: pre-production to examine your raw materials before they go through processing, in-line production to analyse output throughout the process, and final inspection to give a thorough check of the finished product before it goes onto customers.
Generally, it is best to inspect products pre-packing and post-packing. By inspecting it before packing, you stand a better chance at detecting smaller contaminants and improve quality. Then, with a post-packing check, you can ensure your final product is in premium condition and poses no threat to your customers. In this sense, pre-production and final checks are the most critical control points under the HACCP.
Once you have understood the critical control points, you can focus on the measures you will introduce at each to abide by the HACCP protocol.
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Find appropriate measures
With a better understanding of the risks explicitly impacting your plant, you need to create procedures that effectively minimise the hazards and ensure high-quality output.
Start by looking at your existing product lines and any areas you have identified that could potentially harm your products. Examples of measures you might want to incorporate here include:
- Ensuring you have high-performing equipment that is fit for purpose and compatible with your products
- Undertaking regular machine maintenance to avoid broken parts or system failures
- Making sure staff are well-versed in adequate hygiene practices such as regular hand washing and the wearing of protective gear
- Offering staff training that encourages proper handling of products and adherence to processes
- Having adequate cleaning practices in your plant
By optimising your existing process and adding the appropriate safety precautions, you will be less likely to run into problems later down the line.
Next, you need to focus on the steps you will take to uncover any issues with your products through the inspection protocol. Once you have determined at which points you will introduce product inspection, you must find solutions tailored to your products and the hazards they may face.
Fortunately, there are now many choices for quality control in the market, enabling you to find an option that will suit your needs. For example, if metal is a significant hazard in your output, you may choose to install a metal detection system. Alternatively, you could invest in an x-ray system that identifies a broader spectrum of contaminants and issues, or you might choose both.
Regardless of which inspection system you introduce to your plant, you must ensure it is used correctly in a way that addresses all the possible hazards. Having an inspection checklist, tailored to your products and processes, is recommended to enable consistent and complete reviews of all your output.
By combining quality assurance and control in this way, you will drastically reduce the risk of sub-standard products and failure to meet safety guidelines.
Once you have pinned down your new, optimised processes in line with HACCP, it’s fundamental that you communicate these with your workforce. This will enable your staff to follow procedures and make your food management plans a reality.
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Have an action plan for when things go wrong
While abiding by HACCP guidance should limit the chances of an issue arising in your production line, it’s essential to have a plan if something were to happen. Ideally, this
happens before it reaches your customers, but it’s vital to consider all scenarios.
An example of an action plan might be to re-run your lines if a fault or quality issue is discovered in a product. Whilst this is not ideal, as it often means wasting valuable materials, time and money, it’s a better option than endangering the health of a customer and the ensuing fall-out. Other plans may include pushing back deadlines or adjusting timeframes while you seek the cause of an issue, adapting your production line to overcome problems or possibly switching suppliers if fault comes from them.
If an issue is discovered after the product has already left your plant, you need to be prepared to recall the affected line. While this is to be avoided where possible and will be costly, it means the difference between having to refund customers or becoming embroiled in a scandal and its consequences if a customer is harmed by consuming your product. The former is definitely more favourable when it comes to the future of your business and its reputation.
- Keep records
Another integral part of HACCP is ensuring the traceability of your product to manage safety across your production processes. You must keep records of the processes you are following and any checks conducted, including who is responsible and when they were done.
Recording this information is important for two reasons. It proves that you are complying with industry standards and have a robust safety strategy in place, which provide all necessary information, in the event of an inspection. It also helps to show that you are a reputable business with the appropriate accreditations, which could assist with winning new customers. You’ll also be able to provide the appropriate proof if a situation arises by showing you have undertaken your due diligence.
Beyond this, keeping records of your HACCP processes will enable you to ensure it’s working. By logging issues, you can examine any patterns and identify causes that need to be rectified. You will be able to record the outcomes of your new processes, which should hopefully help to bring all stakeholders on board with your new processes.
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Revisit procedures over time
Once you have determined how you will incorporate HACCP into your plant, it’s essential to stick to the processes for the long term and continually optimise them for maximum safety. This means revisiting procedures regularly to ensure they are still performing and being followed.
Analysing your records will help to identify improvements in your processes and may require you to re-think your safety management.
Similarly, if anything in your plant changes – such as if you start processing new products – you need to remember to re-assess the risks and make sure that your strategy still covers all the possibilities. If it’s evident that something isn’t working, follow the steps we’ve listed above until you are confident that you have recreated a safe environment to process food.
Conclusion
HACCP is an integral part of every food manufacturing plant. By embodying it, you will ensure you create an environment of quality assurance and control, where all of your products are of optimum quality, and there is a limited risk of harm to consumers.
With this, you can enjoy the benefits of improved reputation, increased sales whilst ensuring compliance to industry standards.
However, to reap those rewards, you need to ensure you have the right structure and processes in your plant, including quality control systems, trained staff and effective equipment.
At Yamato, we provide solutions that will help you enhance safety and improve quality, including accurate machinery and inspection systems.