THE HACCP CONCEPT - IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS MICROORGANISMS

The hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) concept is becoming an increasingly important aspect of Good Manufacturing Practices in safe food production. HACCP is a systematic means of controlling any microbiological hazard that may arise in a food processing or handling operation and aims to identify problems before they occur. The first step is to establish the hazardous organisms associated with a particular food product. An approach is presented here that permits identification of potentially hazardous bacteria. It is based on a list of all those bacteria that are known to cause foodborne disease in man. Following an evaluation of raw materials, the production process, possibilities for contamination etc., deletions from or additions to the list are made. For the organisms that are retained, it is necessary to determine whether or not they have caused foodborne disease involving identical or related food products. Where this is not the case, the organism can be deleted. In cases of doubts, an organism should not be deleted from the list of potentially hazardous agents. A more evaluation of the hazards will be made during the identification of critical control points (CCPs) and the setting of control criteria at each CCP. © 1994 by Academic Press, Inc.