How risk analysis can improve HACCP

摘要

Production of safe food is increasingly based on the use of risk analysis. Risk analysis is used to set, internationally, food safety criteria. Food producers have to adhere to these criteria and the use of HACCP is often prescribed as a management tool for meeting the criteria. For controlling potentially hazardous organisms it is of advantage to transform the largely qualitative HACCP system into a fully quantitative one. This is possible if critical control points (CCPs) are defined as operations at which control should be exercised to achieve the criteria established. Using risk analysis sub-criteria should be established at each of the CCPs. Meeting these sub-criteria should guarantee that the final criteria are met. This means that at CCPs a quantitative control can be exercised.