What Is HACCP Training?

HACCP (Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a set of guidelines and principles that offer a systematic approach to food safety. Early food safety efforts focused on the testing of products at the end of the production cycle. However, food that was unsafe for consumers was occasionally not detected. HACCP guidelines represent an effort to identify points in the production process that are potentially dangerous and to establish recommended procedures for dealing with those points. General HACCP training focuses on basic principles of food safety. Specific industries also offer HACCP training in order to educate workers in one particular area of food safety, such as packaging or distribution.

The Facts

• To face the challenges of food safety, HACCP relies on a system of guidelines and regulations that are constantly undergoing testing and refining by researchers. The main goal of HACCP training is to prevent food safety problems from ever arising. To accomplish this goal, critical control points (CCPs) are identified. A CCP is a point in production at which a potential danger can arise. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified CCPs for cooking: the minimum internal temperatures for properly cooked meats.

The Principles

• There are seven principles of HAACP that workers and management should follow. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines them as follows: analyze hazards, identify CCPs, establish preventative measures, establish procedures, establish corrective actions to be taken, establish verification protocols and maintain effective recordkeeping. By adhering to these general principles, different areas of the food industry can follow similar procedures and benefit from shared experience. For example, the identification of a CCP in the beef packaging process might also be relevant to a process found in poultry packaging.

HACCP Alliances and Training

• There are three industry-based alliances that have formed to provide uniform HACCP training. First, the International HACCP Alliance, which is a part of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, focuses on meat and poultry production. Second, the Seafood HACCP Alliance is the result of several seafood industry groups combining efforts to create training programs. Third, the Juice HACCP Alliance is an organization created by the joint efforts of juice processing trade associations and experts in government and the juice industry.

Training in Industries

• The FDA and the USDA mandate that certain industries provide standardized HACCP training to workers and management. The USDA establishes HAACP training program regulations in the meat and poultry industry. The FDA controls HACCP training programs in the juice and seafood industries. It establishes training protocols and recommended teaching methods. For example, the FDA issues a "Standardized Training Curriculum" for the juice industry that recommends training methods.

Courses and Certifications

• There are several ways to obtain HACCP training. Some colleges offer HACCP training in specific areas. For example, Rutgers University offers courses for food service managers, as well as basic HACCP training. There are also private companies that offer certification processes. For example, The American Society for Quality (ASQ) offers an HACCP Auditor Certification exam. Industry groups and trade associations may also offer training or specific training recommendations.