News

Category: Food Safety
Posted by: swisher

There's a reason why HACCP – the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system – is a valuable protocol for restaurants: the guidelines work when it comes to enhancing food safety. The program was originally developed in the 1970s as a way to prevent contamination of food products for American astronauts, and the practice has proven so successful that it is now in common use across the entire foodservice industry.

However, many restaurateurs are more familiar with HACCP as a burden than a benefit, and they don't appreciate that the thorough practice of food safety ensures the longevity of their businesses. Those who recognize the value of HAACP do so because they understand that safe food handling procedures protect their establishments by keeping workers healthier, minimizing absences, increasing productivity, shielding their customers from illness, improving their relationships with inspectors and preventing the potential for devastating lawsuits. Simply put, HACCP allows restaurant owners and managers to be confident that they are doing everything they can to safeguard their customers, their employees and their livelihoods.

HACCP enables you to:

Analyze Hazards – HACCP offers guidelines to identify potential hazards associated with the processing, preparing and serving of food, and it also identifies potential measures to control these hazards. The programs consider biological, chemical and physical contaminants, including everything from bacteria to toxins to metal fragments.

Identify Critical Control Points – There are a number of points in the process of turning raw ingredients into completed meals that can pose potential risk of contamination. HACCP identifies these – from cooking to storage to packing and beyond – and isolates the best opportunities to implement safer procedures.

Establish Preventive Measures And Set Critical Limits For Each Control Point – Everything from cooking time to cooking to temperature is examined, and standards are proposed to reduce the threat of microbial growth and contamination.

Establish Procedures To Monitor Critical Control Points – Having standards isn't of much value if they aren't able to be confidently maintained. By ensuring that safeguards exist to oversee food processing at critical control points, restaurants can have the reassurance they need that their product is likely to be safer than it otherwise would be.

Establish Corrective Actions – When critical limits are not met, HACCP proposes remedial actions to ensure that possible exposure is minimized. This may include disposal of improperly handled food, additional processing procedures being applied or other measures be taken to protect workers and customers.

Establish Procedures To Ensure Operational Efficacy – HACCP relies not only on human intervention to maximize safety, but also on the testing of automated elements of the food preparation process to ensure that measurement devices are accurate and reliable.

Establish Effective Record Keeping – As essential as the implementation of HACCP's guidelines is for restaurants, so is the maintenance of reliable records. This makes certain that a history of proactive procedures and corrective measures exists, protecting the restaurant and providing guidelines for ongoing safety management.