Risk analysis in HACCP: burden or benefit?

The current Codex document 'Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System and Guidelines for its Application' is a reflection of the excellent work by the food industry and the international scientific community in developing, over a period of many years, a tool that is known to increase our control Over foodborne safety hazards. Despite the development of HACCP into an internationally accepted protocol, there are calls for further refinements and improvements in food safety control systems. Amongst those topics under discussion currently is the application of risk analysis to food safety, and specifically the application of elements of risk analysis to HACCP. Although the initial HACCP concept in the early 1970s did contain the concept of risk categorisation this was primarily a qualitative ranking system and the majority of judgements made in the preparation of HACCP plans today are based primarily on qualitative, not quantitative data. The use of elements of risk analysis (assessment) in HACCP is proposed by ct number of authors to enable decisions to be taken on a more quantitative basis, particularly during the hazard analysis (Codex Alimentarius Principle I) and identification of Critical Limits (Codex Alimentarius Principle 3), stages. This paper considers the potential benefits and burdens to the industry arising from the application of elements of quantitative risk assessment in HACCP. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.