Food safety hazard analysis

About Regulation 4 (3)

This legal requirement has now been in force since the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations were introduced in 1995. Regulation 4(3) is often referred to as HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point).

What is It?

It is a simple food safety management system.

It requires a proprietor of a food business to identify any step in the activities of the food business which is critical to ensuring food safety and ensure adequate safety procedures are identified, implemented, maintained and reviewed.

Is it a legal requirement?

Yes. It is not yet a legal requirement to be documented but it would be difficult for you to prove that you had completed it without having done so. In any case, all food businesses will have to document their HACCP soon when European law is adopted into the UK framework.

How do I do it?

You must apply the principles to your own business. This will involve looking at your operation step by step, from selection of suppliers through to service of food to the customer to ensure that adequate safety procedures exist.

There will be some steps at which hazards exist and steps at which they can be controlled. Many controls will be simple common sense practices. The hazard analysis approach means the planning of food safety in easy logical steps. It should give a clear focus on the controls that are important to your business to ensure safe food is served every time.

The use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) or Assured Safe Catering (ASC) systems are methods of achieving this requirement.

First you must identify the hazards

The first step is to find any potential hazards which could occur during the production. A hazard is something that might be harmful and may involve either microbiological, chemical or physical contamination.

Introduce controls

Once you have identified possible hazards you must then determine what controls you can put in place to eliminate the hazards or reduce them to a safe, acceptable level.

The controls must be practical and relevant to your business. If you cannot find a suitable control for your process, it may be possible to find an alternative process which can be more easily controlled.

Examples:

  • Temperature Controls
  • Using date coding to control shelf Life
  • Hand washing controls to prevent cross contamination
  • Separate equipment for preparing raw meat

Decide on the critical control points

Decide which of these controls are critical to ensuring safety. A control is critical if the hazard will not be removed before the food is sold at any other stage of production.

Monitor critical controls

Once controls have been put in place they should be monitored on a regular basis to ensure they work effectively. It is not necessary to check controls on every occasion a particular process is carried out provided that you are sure the frequency of checks will enable any problems to be identified before there is a risk to food safety.

Examples:

  • Checking refrigeration and cooking temperatures
  • Checking Date Codes
  • Checking Cleaning Schedules

Download our example of a temperature record sheet(pdf, 57KB) - you could adapt it to suit your own system.

Corrective action

Staff must be sure of what action they should take when monitoring shows that there may be a problem.

Review your system

Once established, the system must be reviewed on a regular basis, when any operations of the business change or when problems are identified. An example of a Hazard Control Chart by following this link.(pdf, 55KB)

Where can I get help?

You can contact Commercial Environmental Health or email commercialeh@richmond.gov.uk.

If you are a relatively large business you may wish to consider enlisting the help of a food safety consultant. Often the consultant will write your food safety system for you. Remember though that it is the proprietor's duty to ensure that it is implemented.

A list of food safety consultants can be found from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health's website www.cieh.org.uk

More Information on HACCP can be found at the Food Standards Agency website www.food.gov.uk You may find the Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice useful as a guide.

HACCP training for managers and proprietors of food businesses is available from the following institutions:

  • The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (Telephone 020 7928 6006)
  • The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (Telephone 020 7630 0121)
  • The Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene (Telephone 020 7580 2731)
  • The Society of Food Hygiene Technology (Telephone 01590 671979)