Week 28 HACCP Hazard Analysis - We've Got SALSA Sussed

Week 28 HACCP Hazard Analysis

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had fun with your HACCP Process Flow Diagrams last week!

This week, we are tackling the Hazard Analysis part of HACCP. This is the tricky bit.

We will look at the Process Steps, and assess the types of hazards which could occur at each step. The hazard categories fall into the following:

1.       Microbiological

2.       Physical

3.       Chemical

4.       Allergenic

We will look at how to document the hazards and we will look at how we are going to control them.

Control Measures come in many forms, and are usually found within one of the Prerequisite Procedures.

If not, then they could be a CCP. A CCP is a Critical Control Point. A point in the process which is critical to ensuring the product becomes safe.

To complete the Hazard Analysis section, we will have to look into the ‘Severity versus Likelihood’ to determine the Significant Hazards. So buckle up people, it’s going to be a detailed read!

If you get this bit right, you will have the knowledge, understanding of HACCP and a logical, methodical HACCP Study in place!

Step No                                                                                                Blog No

1. Assemble the HACCP Team                                                      (Week 25)

2. Describe the product                                                                  (Week 26)

3. Identify the intended use and users                                           (Week 26)

4. Construct a flow diagram                                                           (Week 27)

5. Validate the flow diagram                                                          (Week 27)

6. Conduct a hazard analysis and consider controls                    (Week 28)

7. Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs)

8. Establish critical limits for each CCP

9. Establish monitoring procedures for each CCP

10.Establish corrective actions

11.Establish verification procedures

12.Establish documentation and record keeping

 

What’s coming next…

Week 29 Critical Control Point Decisions

 

Hazard Analysis - what do you need to show your SALSA auditor?

Hazard Analysis

Severity v Likelihood Determination

Controls & Prerequisites

 

The Hazard Analysis is the main part of your HACCP, and essential to get this right. Knowing where to start is tricky.

 

There’s a lot of information to take in here, so get ready….!

 

I will explain in simple terms.

 

Firstly, have your Hazard Analysis table set out ready for you to input the information….. My opinion is to keep it all in one table, so you capture the whole story all at once, here is my suggestion:

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Prerequisite	CCP Decision Tree
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures			Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	CCP Yes / No

 

This week, we are concentrating on the Hazard Analysis and Controls, therefore we will just take the first section of the table, and go back to the CCP Decision Tree section next week.

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Prerequisite	CCP Decision Tree
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures			Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	CCP Yes / No

 

To fill in the hazard analysis table we need to follow these steps below:

 

Step 1  

Add in all of your process steps from your Process Flow. Do not miss any out, even if you think there are no hazards associated with them. Work from your process flow diagram. Start with the Goods In Process Steps.

Process Step & Ref
Mains Water Infeed W1
Frozen Ingredient Intake A1
Frozen Storage A2
Chilled Ingredient Intake B1
Ambient Ingredient Intake B2
Packaging intake P1
Packaging Storage P2

Step 2  

Document the hazards at each process step.  You may have more than one hazard to think about as we have to consider all four:

1.       Physical hazards

2.       Chemical hazards

3.       Allergenic hazards

4.       Microbiological hazards

 

This is the tricky bit. You need to show you have considered all relevant hazards, without going overboard, but with enough detail.

 

You need to describe what the actual hazard is, where it has come from, what affect it will have, and what it is due to.

 

Start with, whether the hazard is Present in the raw material, or Introduced. Is there Growth of a Pathogen, or has it Survived? I remember this with my PIGS analogy.

 

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards
Mains Water Infeed W1	Presence of Pathogen or Chemical contamination of the finished product due to contaminated water
Frozen Ingredient Intake A1	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse during transit.
	Presence of pathogenic, physical, allergenic or chemical contamination due to damages throughout transportation.
	Introduction of pathogens such as Weill’s disease in the finished product due to pest contamination on the delivery vehicle
Frozen Storage A2	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse due to ineffective or malfunctioning freezer.
	Introduction of pathogens or allergens in storage due to incorrect storage and segregation practices.

 

 

Step 4

Document the Control Measures you already have in place to control the hazard, in the relevant column.

 

Add in the relevant column, the ‘Prerequisite Procedure’ name that the ‘Control Measure’ is documented within.

 

If your Control Measure is in place, but not documented in the relevant Prerequisite Procedure, then make sure you add it.

Remember, all of the Prerequisite Procedures we have chatted through from Week 1 to Week 24, are all defined by the SALSA Standard. See the list from the SALSA Standard below:

 

 

It’s a good idea to have a list of your Prerequisite Procedures in your HACCP Study Document, and list your Control Measures next to each one for completeness. This is good practice and a good cross check against what is in the procedure.

 

See the example of a few of the Prerequisites and Controls below:

 

Prerequisite	Controls
Training & Supervision	Induction Training, specific task work instruction training, CCP training and refresher training. Competency checks
Personal Hygiene	Laundry washing, health screening, jewellery policy, hand washing, personal items, protective clothing, blue plaster issue. Illness reporting
Cleaning	Cleaning. Chemicals
Contamination & Cross Contamination Prevention	Allergen contamination control, physical contamination control, microbiological contamination control, chemical contamination control. Raw and cooked segregation. Allergen storage segregation, recipe scheduling. Metal control. Glass & Hard Plastic control. Wood control.
Process, Environment & Equipment Control	Temperature control, calibration. Average weight, average quantity, minimum weight.
Control of Raw Materials	Supplier approval, transportation during delivery and transport hygiene. Goods in procedures. Storage of raw materials, including food contact packaging, from wholesalers and direct supplier delivery.  Water from mains water. Threats and vulnerabilities for raw material adulteration and substitution

 

Now let’s add our specific Control Measures into the Hazard Analysis, in the correct column, and add the Prerequisite Procedure they are included within. See the example below.

 

In your control measures, you can add things that happen at a later step as well. Such as;

·         Cooking at a later step

·         Sterilisation at a later step

·         Metal detection at a later step

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Pre-requisite Topic
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures
Mains Water Infeed W1	Presence of Pathogen or Chemical contamination of the finished product due to contaminated water			Annual Water Board Test Results Environmental Water Testing		Control of Raw Materials
Frozen Ingredient Intake A1	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse during transit.			Temperature checks on arrival Goods in procedures Reputable suppliers used		Control of Raw Materials
	Presence of pathogenic, physical, allergenic or chemical contamination due to damages throughout transportation.			Packaging damages checks on arrival Rejection of damaged loads / products Goods in procedures		Control of Raw Materials
	Introduction of pathogens such as Weill’s disease in the finished product due to pest contamination on the delivery vehicle			Vehicle checks on arrival for cleanliness and signs of pests Goods in procedures Rejection of pest infested vehicles / signs of pests Reputable suppliers used		Control of Raw Materials
Frozen Storage A2	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse due to ineffective or malfunctioning freezer.			Fridge & Freezer temperature checks Fridge and freezer maintenance Calibration		Process, Environment & Equipment Control Maintenance
	Introduction of pathogens in storage due to incorrect storage and segregation practices.			Raw and cooked segregation in storage Covering and sealing ingredients and products in storage Cooking at a later step		Contamination & Cross Contamination Prevention
	Introduction of allergens in storage due to incorrect storage and segregation practices.			Allergen segregation in storage Covering and sealing ingredients and products in storage		Contamination & Cross Contamination Prevention

 

Step 5

Next, we need to decide what the Severity of the hazard is, and the Likelihood of it actually happening. Take into consideration your Control Measures.

 

Severity of Hazards always stays the same.

 

Likelihood of Hazards happening varies. Why? Because it depends on the Control Measure which you have in place. If you have really robust Controls and Prerequisite Procedures, the likelihood of the hazard happening decreases.

 

When deciding on the hazard Severity you need to decide if hazard is severe enough to cause….. death, hospitalisation, illness, injury or none of them. I always use this to help me decide upon both severity and likelihood.

Rating	Severity (How serious would the consequences of the hazard be?)	Likelihood (What is the likelihood of the hazard occurring and causing contamination?)
High 3	Death Hospitalisation and long-term serious illness	It is likely as it has happened previously in this business
Medium 2	Short term hospitalisation Short term injury Short term illness	It has happened in the industry before.
Low 1	Minor injury	It has not happened before or not happened for a very long time.

 

 

Then, we have to decide if the hazard is significant enough to take it through the CCP (Critical Control Point) Decision Tree. Red is significant, and green is not. We will take some significant hazards through the decision tree next week.

 

Severity	H					Key:
	M					Significant hazard	Yes
	L					Not significant hazard	No
		L	M	H
		Likelihood

 

Some people prefer to use numbers to score Severity and Likelihood, then calculate an overall score which decides upon your significant hazards. This is acceptable, and some auditors prefer it. However, I like to keep it as simple as possible!

 

When thinking about the hazard you have identified, you need to think of the Severity of the hazard at the Process Step you are at. Pathogenic contamination is serious for most pathogens. If it is not controlled, the consequences could be fatal to vulnerable groups. Therefore, severity is usually high. The same applies to allergens. We have all read news articles, where there have been fatalities due to allergenic cross contamination. So again, severity is high. Yes, we are going to control the hazard, but the severity of it is still high! You need to think about worst case scenario when deciding upon severity.

 

Next, think about how you are controlling those hazards, and decide upon how likely they are to actually happen. You need to consider if they have happened before, on your site, or in the industry. This is where your initial research comes in useful, regarding your product and your ingredients. Use the Severity v Likelihood table above to help you decide. Do not put Low for everything, as this is not realistic (I only say this, as I see it a lot on HACCP’s which I have audited).

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Pre-requisite Topic
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures
Mains Water Infeed W1	Presence of Pathogen or Chemical contamination of the finished product due to contaminated water	H	L	Annual Water Board Test Results Environmental Water Testing	Yes	Control of Raw Materials
Frozen Ingredient Intake A1	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse during transit.	H	M	Temperature checks on arrival Goods in procedures Reputable suppliers used	Yes	Control of Raw Materials
	Presence of pathogenic, physical, allergenic or chemical contamination due to damages throughout transportation.	H	M	Packaging damages checks on arrival Rejection of damaged loads / products Goods in procedures	Yes	Control of Raw Materials
	Introduction of pathogens such as Weill’s disease in the finished product due to pest contamination on the delivery vehicle	H	M	Vehicle checks on arrival for cleanliness and signs of pests Goods in procedures Rejection of pest infested vehicles / signs of pests Reputable suppliers used	Yes	Control of Raw Materials
Frozen Storage A2	Growth of pathogens in the finished product due to temperature abuse due to ineffective or malfunctioning freezer.	H	M	Fridge & Freezer temperature checks Fridge and freezer maintenance	Yes	Process, Environment & Equipment Control Maintenance
	Introduction of pathogens in storage due to incorrect storage and segregation practices.	H	M	Raw and cooked segregation in storage Covering and sealing ingredients and products in storage Cooking at a later step	Yes	Contamination & Cross Contamination Prevention
	Introduction of allergens in storage due to incorrect storage and segregation practices.	H	M	Allergen segregation in storage Covering and sealing ingredients and products in storage	Yes	Contamination & Cross Contamination Prevention

 

Below are some additional examples of a hazards which are calculated as ‘Low Significance’, and also some examples of hazards which do not have a specific Prerequisite Procedure…… This may be because they are very specific processes and might also become a CCP. Next week we will go into CCP’s, but I will let you absorb all of this before going any further!

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Pre-requisite Topic
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures
Mixing D3	Plastic in the finished product due to the use of weighing tools such as scoops that are in poor condition.	L	L	Control of tools and equipment.	No	Premises, Equipment & Maintenance
Cooking / Baking D4	Survival of pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus or Salmonella in the finished product, due to ineffective heat treatment.	H	L	Heat Treatment Baking & Cooking	Yes	NA
Cooling D5	Growth of pathogens such as Bacillus Cereus in the finished product due to the product not being cooled to the set temperature within the required safe time limit.	H	L	Effective cooling Blast Chilling	Yes	NA

 

This week might have been information overload! However, if you follow these steps to HACCP, you will start to understand the logic and methodology behind HACCP. You will begin to understand how everything fits together perfectly!

 

Christmas Tree is going up tonight people! Bring on the Bailey’s and the mince pies. And it has just began snowing!

 

Cheers!

Be careful and stay safe!

Ruth

Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com

07732 966 836