ISO 22000 and HACCP

Defining the different sectors of the HACCP and ISO22000 Concept

Even though many Consultancies offer an ISO 22000 or a HACCP Program, we must understand that adequate Documentation cannot be mass produced. Those Handbooks are often written (and we must be aware that it takes a lot of time to register such a template) and then just adapted to suit a specific client. Often it is just a job of “replace Company name” and printing or sending via email.

Risk Assessments are a crucial part of building such a Program, and every business has its own structure and setup, which makes a very independent assessment necessary, and will lead to a very unique Food Safety Program.

These are the black sheep within the industry; however, it is straightforward to identify such providers. The root of a HACCP is the Team involved, which must be aware of Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) and PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) procedures. Implementing a Program is not done with a one-day staff Training, even though staff training is crucial.

A HACCP Program will never be finished, especially within Hospitality Venues. The documents must have an expiry date. Updates of those forms must be cross-checked with the Corrective Action Reports(CAR), which are made in relation to specific documents.

CCP

The Critical Control Points define critical limits for storing, preparing and serving food safely. Those are Limits that must be controlled and managed by the operational staff. The records taken are essential as proof for executing the outlined Procedures set by the HACCP Teams.

These Documents are prepared and arranged for immediate use to ensure that the Team works within the set restrictions.

Critical limits must be clearly defined. Fast Food chains are very good at following the standards defined in the Food Safety standards; however, if the Hospitality industry wants to stick to those standards, it will result in a loss of quality and individuality.

OPRP

The Operational Prerequisite Program sets the Infrastructure and Foundation for the Department. It is less immediate and is point businesses can create an automatization to reduce labour and workload on the Team. Testo, for example, offers the Savaris 2 System, a cloud-based Temperature Monitor System that will keep your cooling units within predefined limits.

OPRPs don’t have critical limits attached and make those forms less precise. An excellent example of such documents is Cleaning Rosters. We can tick a box that we cleaned a surface, but unless we can measure the bacteria count on the surface, we cannot establish a CCP for this form.

PRP

The Prerequisite Program is the framework for the entire Program. You can think of this as pre-existing Condition for obtaining safe products. Teams will find in those Programs information to ensure that a business operates safely. For example, MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for Chemicals is part of this.

Reasoning:

Chemical Datasheets are giving us information about what to do in case of an incident related to this product. No critical limits attached will directly involve Food Safety; however, there is information on how to use the chemical and avoid cross-contamination. It also explains how a chemical is diluted, applied, or used. Those methods will help ensure that the WHS store and use chemicals. It is part of the Framework our Teams will work within and create a safe working environment.