Week 30 CCP Summary with Critical Limits, Monitoring Procedures & Corrective Actions - We've Got SALSA Sussed

Week 30 CCP Summary with Critical Limits, Monitoring Procedures & Corrective Actions

Hello Again!

I hope you are all ready for a nice Christmas break. Probably a bit of a different one for all of us this year, but I hope you can enjoy it the best you possibly can.

This week we finish off our HACCP with the final jigsaw piece: CCP Summary, Documentation & Verification.

The CCP Summary states what the CCPs are, what the Critical Limits are, how we are to Monitor them, how Frequently, and Who is to carry them out. It also states what we are to do if it doesn’t reach its Critical Limit with the Corrective Action.

 

Let’s get stuck in and finish this off.

 

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)                               (Week 29)

8. Establish critical limits for each CCP                                      (Week 30)

9. Establish monitoring procedures for each CCP                     (Week 30)

10.Establish corrective actions                                                  (Week 30)

11.Establish verification procedures                                         (Week 30)

12.Establish documentation and record keeping                     (Week 30)

 

What’s coming next… in the New Year!

Week 31 Food Safety Systems Review

 

 

CCP Summary - what do you need to show your SALSA auditor?

Summary with Critical Limits, Monitoring Procedures & Corrective Actions

 

From last week, we will take the following two CCP’s (Critical Control Points) we identified and put critical limits against them on a CCP summary so that you can see how it works.

 

Cooking, Baking D4 & Cooling D5 have been put through the CCP Decision Tree and been determined as CCP’s.

 

Process Step & Ref	Hazards	Risk Rating			Significant Hazard to Proceed? (Y/N)	Pre-requisite Topic	CCP Decision Tree
		Severity (H/M/L)	Likelihood (H/M/L)	Control Measures			Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	CCP Y / N
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	N	Y	Y	NA	NA	Yes CCP1 Cooking
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	N	Y	Y	NA	NA	Yes CCP2 Blast Chill

 

To summarise your CCP’s, you move them to a CCP Summary Table:

 

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible

 

You need to transfer your CCP’s on to the table:

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible
Baking / Cooking CCP 1 Steps: D4
Blast Chilling CCP 2 Steps: D5

 

Now you need to think carefully about what are the Critical Limits. You cannot guess. You must use industry standards, science and expert guidance to decide upon your Critical Limits.

 

Let’s take Cooking / Baking as the first example.

 

I have defined the Critical Limits as 85ºC for 1 second and the Target Limit as 90ºC for 1 second.

 

The Target Limit is slightly above the Critical Limit, so that we have a tolerance.

 

This is the ideal Temperature v Time for the Cooking / Baking Critical Limit, as long as your product quality is not affected!

 

Where can we get evidence that these Critical Limits are correct?

 

The use of the FSA website, please find the link below:

 

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cooking-your-food

 

Or, the BRC Standard, which has a Time v Temp Table, eg below:

Temperature	Time held at specified temperature
70	2 minutes
71	1 minute 28 seconds
72	1 minute 5 seconds
73	48 seconds
74	35 seconds
75	26 seconds
76	19 seconds
77	14 seconds
78	10 seconds
79	6 seconds
80	5 seconds
81	4 seconds
82	3 seconds
83	2 seconds
84	2 seconds
85	1 second

 

You can use any of the above Time and Temperature variants for your product. However, just remember that if you use a lower temperature, you need to ensure the temperature is held for the correct amount of time to hit the Critical Limit, and you need to be able to prove it.

 

For example, we will take the time v temp of 70ºC for 2 minutes: you need to prove that the temperature was 70ºC for 2 minutes, so you would have to take the temperature twice, and document it twice to prove it. Otherwise, how do we know if the product has really only just reached 70ºC and, therefore, not reach the Critical Limit?

 

I have written my Critical Limit into the table below:

 

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible
Baking / Cooking CCP 1 Steps: D4	Target: 90 ºC or more for 1 second   Critical Limit 85ºC or more for 1 second

 

The next step is to define the procedure for carrying out the CCP. This is a summary, so once it is complete, you have to take this information into a CCP Training Procedure for training your staff members.

 

The CCP Summary needs to describe the right way to take temperatures, what to use, how often to take the temperatures and who should do it.

 

If you are taking the temperature of a batch of chicken breasts being cooked in the oven, then you need to take the temperature of the chicken breasts from the top, middle and bottom trays to ensure that heat distribution has reached every area of the oven.

 

If you are taking the temperature of a large pan of Chilli, then you need to make sure it is stirred thoroughly. Then take the temperature to ensure the entire batch is the same temperature.

 

Always putting the probe into the centre of the ‘cook’ whether an individual item or large volume of product.

 

You need to add the name of the Procedure that the staff should follow, and the Record they should document the results on, onto the CCP summary.

 

Please see the example below:

 

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible
Baking / Cooking CCP 1 Steps: D4	Target: 90 ºC or more for 1 second   Critical Limit 85ºC or more for 1 second	Check and record the temperature of the centre of the cook, using a probe.   From the oven, check product from the top, middle and bottom rack from the oven.   Procedure: CCP 1 Baking / Cooking Temperature Procedure Record: 3.4.2 Production Traceability Procedure	At least 3 products from each batch.	Baking Operative

The final part of the CCP is detailing the Corrective Action which has to be carried out if the Critical Limit cannot be reached.

 

For Cooking, if the temperature is taken and it has not reached the Critical Limit, then it needs to continue Cooking.

 

If you take the temperature again and it is just not reaching the Critical Limit, then something must be wrong. Probably with the equipment. This does not happen very often. If the oven has broken down or there has been a power cut this could be the reason. However, if it means the products temperature cannot be reached – it must be put to waste.

 

Detail this in your Corrective Action section of the CCP Summary. See the example below:

 

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible
Baking / Cooking CCP 1 Steps: D4	Target: 90 ºC or more for 1 second   Critical Limit 85ºC or more for 1 second	Check and record the temperature of the centre of the cook, using a probe.   From the oven, check product from the top, middle and bottom rack from the oven.   Procedure: CCP 1 Baking / Cooking Temperature Procedure Record: 3.4.2 Production Traceability Procedure	At least 3 products from each batch.	Baking Operative	Continue to cook or bake until the product until 85ºC is achieved.    Where this cannot be achieved the food effected must be thrown away.

 

Next, we will move onto Blast Chilling.

 

Blast Chilling or Cooling of your High-Risk product must be done in 90 minutes. Why? Because after 90 minutes of being within Danger Zone (63ºC to 8ºC) temperatures, most pathogens start to grow to unsafe levels. Therefore, if we cool it to under 5ºC within this timescale, it will be being held at safe temperatures again, and the pathogenic growth is being prevented.

 

If it doesn’t reach the 5ºC temperature, it must be put to waste. There is no room for error with this one.

 

If you are making large batches of Product such as Chicken Curry, then you may have to decant the batch into smaller amounts to achieve the 90 minute timescale.

 

Using a Blast Chiller speeds this process up and is widely used in the industry. It is best practice and a great idea if it is affordable within your budget.

 

There are exceptions to this 90 minute rule, however this is product specific, and you need to check the regulations for your product.

 

Please see the example below for Blast Chilling / Cooling for pies:

 

CCP Name	Control & Critical limit	Monitoring			Corrective Action
		Procedure	Frequency	Responsible
Blast Chilling CCP 2 Steps: D5	Critical Limit 5ºC or less within 90 minutes of cooking.	Check and record the temperature of the centre of the bake / cook, using a probe. Ensure the temperature has reduced to 5ºC degrees within 90 minutes from cook.   Procedure: CCP 2 Blast Chilling Procedure Record: 3.4.2 Production Traceability Procedure	At least 3 pies being cooled / blast chilled from each batch.	Baking Operative	Any product that does not reach the critical limit for cooling / blast chilling within the required time must be thrown away.

 

The frequency of checking CCP’s is always every batch of product you make.

 

The person responsible has to be defined, so that person knows that they are responsible for carrying out monitoring of the CCP. Only the person who is trained on the CCP Monitoring must carry out the task. If staff are not trained, they should not carry out CCP checks.

 

There are many more CCPs, some of which you may have throughout your process. Remember, you must validate them.

Records and Documentation

CCP Procedures & Records

You must have CCP Records to document the results on. You must document your CCP’s at the frequency you have defined on CCP Summary.

 

You must also train your staff members on how to carry out the CCP’s. You can take the information from your CCP Summary and elaborate on the exact way you expect your staff members to carry out the CCP Monitoring check. 

 

Verification of the HACCP Plan

You need to verify that your HACCP is working, and continues to ensure your product is safe.

 

There are a few ways you can do this, such as:

 

·         Checking all CCP records have been completed correctly by staff members, and that all of the CCP Limits are correct – you should sign them off as checked as evidence.

·         Checking that if any Corrective Actions were carried out, they have been done correctly.

·         Carrying out CCP observations on your staff members to ensure they are carrying out the CCP Monitoring checks correctly.

·         Internal Audit on HACCP to ensure all details are correct.

·         Checking complaints for food safety issues.

·         HACCP review – annually and upon any changes

 

Well on that note, that’s 2020 blogs done for now! I really hope this is useful for you and look forward to being in touch in the New Year! Try and have the best Xmas and New Year that you possibly can. Let’s all hope our 2021 is a better one!

Be careful and stay safe! Ruth

Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com 

07732 966 836