HACCP method ? A practical approach

From the first use of the HACCP method by the Pillsbury Corporation in the 1960s, for astronauts’ in-flight meals, to the 20th session of the Codex Alimentarius in 1993, which adopted the founding document *Guidelines for the Application of the Hazard Analysis – Critical Control Points* (HACCP) (ALINORM 93/13A, Appendix II, a great deal of progress has been made. This included the public presentation of the method in 1971, its recognition by the National Academy of Sciences as a reference method, and the application of its principles in 1974 by the FDA in developing health regulations for low-acid foods. Finally, 1997 can be considered a milestone, when the Codex Commission, at its 22nd session, adopted the revised Recommended International Code of Practice (General Principles of Food Hygiene (CAC/RCP 1-1969, Rev. 3)).–-Critical Control Point (HACCP) risk analysis and its implementation guidelines are included as an annex. However, changes in terminology have since led to a preference for “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points,” which better reflects the role assigned to the method within each company, distinguishes it clearly, and avoids confusion with the broader Risk Analysis approach—also described by the Codex—which falls under the jurisdiction of member states within the World Trade Organization (WTO).

With this semantic confusion cleared up, the Codex text—some forty pages long—set out the twelve-step method in about ten pages, also stating that: “Before applying the HACCP method to a sector of the food chain, that sector must operate in accordance with the general hygiene principles of the Codex Alimentarius,” which are elaborated in the first thirty pages of the text. This quantitative difference helps put into perspective the relative importance of each element and the order in which they must be addressed. These general principles, which are broadly similar to Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), were already, at that time, to be the subject of documented Pre-established Programs (PRPs). These PRPs foreshadowed other approaches that emerged later (e.g., “monitored” GHPs, the PRPs of ISO 22000).

Over time, the text of the Codex has never changed with regard to the seven principles of the method, unlike its implementation guidelines. It may be worth noting here some of the...