Hazard analysis and critical control points

Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (/ˈhæsʌp/), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP attempts to avoid hazards rather than attempting to inspect finished products for the effects of those hazards. The HACCP system can be used at all stages of a food chain, from food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) require mandatory HACCP programs for juice and meat as an effective approach to food safety and protecting public health. Meat HACCP systems are regulated by the USDA, while seafood and juice are regulated by the FDA. All other food companies in the United States that are required to register with the FDA under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, as well as firms outside the US that export food to the US, are transitioning to mandatory hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls (HARPC) plans. HACCP is believed to stem from a production process monitoring used during World War II because traditional 'end of the pipe' testing on artillery shells' firing mechanisms could not be performed, and a large percentage of the artillery shells made at the time were either duds or misfiring. HACCP itself was conceived in the 1960s when the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) asked Pillsbury to design and manufacture the first foods for space flights. Since then, HACCP has been recognized internationally as a logical tool for adapting traditional inspection methods to a modern, science-based, food safety system. Based on risk-assessment, HACCP plans allow both industry and government to allocate their resources efficiently in establishing and auditing safe food production practices. In 1994, the organization International HACCP Alliance was established, initially to assist the US meat and poultry industries with implementing HACCP, and now its membership has been spread over other professional and industrial areas. Hence, HACCP has been increasingly applied to industries other than food, such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This method, which in effect seeks to plan out unsafe practices based on science, differs from traditional 'produce and sort' quality control methods that do nothing to prevent hazards from occurring and must identify them at the end of the process. HACCP is focused only on the health safety issues of a product and not the quality of the product, yet HACCP principles are the basis of most food quality and safety assurance systems. In the United States, HACCP compliance is regulated by 21 CFR part 120 and 123. Similarly, FAO and WHO published a guideline for all governments to handle the issue in small and less developed food businesses. In the early 1960s, a collaborated effort between the Pillsbury Company, NASA, and the U.S. Army Laboratories began with the objective to provide safe food for space expeditions. People involved in this collaboration included Herbert Hollander, Mary Klicka, and Hamed El-Bisi of the United States Army Laboratories in Natick, Massachusetts, Paul A. Lachance of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, and Howard E. Baumann representing Pillsbury as its lead scientist. To ensure that the food sent to space was safe, Lachance imposed strict microbial requirements, including pathogen limits (including E. coli, Salmonella, and Clostridium botulinum). Using the traditional end product testing method, it was soon realized that almost all of the food manufactured was being used for testing and very little was left for actual use. Therefore, a new approach was needed. NASA's own requirements for critical control points (CCP) in engineering management would be used as a guide for food safety. CCP derived from failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) from NASA via the munitions industry to test weapon and engineering system reliability. Using that information, NASA and Pillsbury required contractors to identify 'critical failure areas' and eliminate them from the system, a first in the food industry then. Baumann, a microbiologist by training, was so pleased with Pillsbury's experience in the space program that he advocated for his company to adopt what would become HACCP at Pillsbury. Soon, Pillsbury was confronted with a food safety issue of its own when glass contamination was found in farina, a cereal commonly used in infant food. Baumann's leadership promoted HACCP in Pillsbury for producing commercial foods, and applied to its own food production. This led to a panel discussion at the 1971 National Conference on Food Protection that included examining CCPs and good manufacturing practices in producing safe foods. Several botulism cases were attributed to under-processed low-acid canned foods in 1970–71. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked Pillsbury to organize and conduct a training program on the inspection of canned foods for FDA inspectors. This 21-day program was first held in September 1972 with 11 days of classroom lecture and 10 days of canning plant evaluations. Canned food regulations (21 CFR 108, 21 CFR 110, 21 CFR 113, and 21 CFR 114) were first published in 1969. Pillsbury's training program to the FDA in 1969, titled 'Food Safety through the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System', was the first time that HACCP was used. HACCP was initially set on three principles, now shown as principles one, two, and four in the section below. Pillsbury quickly adopted two more principles, numbers three and five, to its own company in 1975. It was further supported by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that governmental inspections by the FDA go from reviewing plant records to compliance with its HACCP system. A second proposal by the NAS led to the development of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) in 1987. NACMCF was initially responsible for defining HACCP's systems and guidelines for its application and were coordinated with the Codex Committee for Food Hygiene, that led to reports starting in 1992 and further harmonization in 1997. By 1997, the seven HACCP principles listed below became the standard. A year earlier, the American Society for Quality offered their first certifications for HACCP Auditors. (First known as Certified Quality Auditor-HACCP, they were changed to Certified HACCP Auditor (CHA) in 2004.).