6. Step 6: Hazard analysis – determining causes – identifying control measures

This is clearly one of the key stages in the process. It involves operators identifying and prioritizing the hazards significantly linked to their production, in order to decide which are the most relevant in terms of :

• raw materials and ingredients used ;

• the overall transformation process implemented on the site;

• how the end product is used.

This choice, made following a highly structured process of identifying the causes, enables them to set the level of control they want, or are able, to exercise, concentrating on measures to control hazards that pose a real threat to food safety, without spreading themselves too thinly over superficial or even superfluous actions.