Two-minute brief
HACCP requirements explained: video brief
A two-minute brief on what the Codex HACCP text requires: the good hygiene practices of Chapter One and the seven principles and twelve steps of Chapter Two.
Key takeaways
- The Codex text has two chapters: good hygiene practices and the HACCP system.
- Five preliminary steps come before the seven principles.
- Critical limits must be validated as well as monitored.
- Corrective actions are defined in advance for each critical control point.
- A certification body audits against the specific HACCP document it names.
Elements, not numbered clauses
HACCP has no numbered clauses in the way an ISO management system standard has. The Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene set out good hygiene practices in Chapter One and the HACCP principles with their twelve-step application in Chapter Two, and a certification body audits your system against the scheme document it names, built on that text. This short film maps those elements.
Good hygiene practices cover premises, people, operation and transport: design, maintain, clean and disinfect the establishment, control pests, keep food handlers trained and hygienic, control the operation from intake to dispatch, inform consumers and protect food in transport. In practice that looks like zoning that keeps raw and ready-to-eat apart, cleaning, pest-control and training records, supplier specifications, time and temperature control, allergen handling, labelling and lot marking, and vehicle checks.
The preliminary steps and the seven principles
Steps 1 to 5 are preliminary: assemble the HACCP team, describe the product, identify its intended use, construct the flow diagram and confirm it on site. The seven principles follow. Principle 1 is the hazard analysis; then the critical control points are determined, critical limits are established and validated, a monitoring system is set up for each critical control point, corrective actions are established for when monitoring shows a deviation, the plan is validated and verified, and documentation and record keeping are put in place.
The Codex text was revised in 2020 and again in 2022, when a decision tree and worksheet for determining critical control points were added. HACCP applies at any step of the food chain, from a single-line processor to a hotel kitchen, and the text expects it to be applied with the flexibility a small or less developed business needs. Certificates are issued by independent certification bodies against the HACCP document they name.
Applied well, HACCP keeps hazards under control at the step where control is essential, batch after batch, rather than relying on testing the finished product.
HACCP at a glance
- Purpose
- Preventive food safety: the hazards at each process step identified, the CCPs determined, and their limits validated, monitored and corrected, on a foundation of good hygiene practices
- Relevant to
- Any food business, from processing onwards in particular: manufacturers and processors, caterers, packers, storage and transport, retail and food service, and their ingredient and packaging suppliers
- Edition
- Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, CXC 1-1969: adopted 1969, revised 2020 and again in 2022, when a decision tree and worksheet for determining CCPs were added; seven principles, twelve steps
- Certification
- Issued by an independent certification body against the HACCP document it names, Codex-based or a national standard; HACCP is also audited inside every ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 certification
- Sterling's role
- Hygiene practices, the HACCP study and plan built with your team, Effivity, training, internal audit and certification readiness, then Sustain™
- Cost and timing
- Total investment for a HACCP system depends on the current maturity of your processes, the scope, locations and number of employees. The process typically takes 3 to 6 months
HACCP: questions people ask
Is HACCP certification mandatory?
HACCP-based procedures are a legal requirement in many jurisdictions, for example for food business operators after primary production in the European Union and for meat, poultry, seafood and juice processors in the United States; certification is not. A certificate is a voluntary, independent confirmation that the plan exists and works, asked for by customers and importers rather than by the law.
What is the difference between HACCP and ISO 22000?
HACCP is the Codex method, its seven principles and the plan they produce, on a foundation of good hygiene practices. ISO 22000 is a certifiable management system standard that contains those principles and adds what a plan alone lacks: context and leadership, objectives, documented information, traceability, emergency preparedness, internal audit, management review and improvement. A HACCP certificate confirms the plan; ISO 22000 certifies the system around it.
Who issues a HACCP certificate, and against what?
An independent certification body issues it after auditing your system against a specified document, which the certificate names: a Codex-based HACCP scheme operated by the body, or a national HACCP standard where one exists. Codex itself runs no certification scheme and issues no certificates. Ask which document the body certifies against and whether the certificate is issued under accreditation; both affect what a customer will accept.
Is a HACCP certificate GFSI-recognised?
No. GFSI recognises certification programmes it has benchmarked, and a HACCP certificate on its own is not one of them. If a retailer or export customer asks for GFSI recognition, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF or IFS is the route, and each contains HACCP, so the work already done is reused.
How many CCPs should a plan have?
As many as the hazard analysis justifies, and no more. A CCP is a step at which control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a significant hazard to an acceptable level; Codex provides a decision tree and worksheet to decide whether that applies. Most plants end up with a small number of CCPs and control the remaining hazards through the hygiene practices.
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