HACCP is a legal requirement of any establishment. All  businesses producing food, whether for profit or not, are legally obliged to have a HACCP system in place. Gerry Diver  from Learning Curve NI  provides this step by step sytem for considering  HACCP  needs in your establishment.

The Primary Food Safety Hazards can be seen  under 4 Main headings:

• Temperature Control
• Personal hygiene
• In House Cleaning/Dirty working  environment
• Pest Control

These 4  hazards areas have to be controlled on a continuing basis.

How to do this?

1. All catering staff, including serving staff, have to be trained in Food Safety. I recommend that all staff be given training in this regard. There are basic foundation skills that every food worker must know, as laid down by the Environmental Health Agencies. Therefore hygiene training is the base of any HACCP plan.

2. Every food premises should have at least 3 probe thermometers with anti bacterial wipes in close proximity, to clean the probe. Knowing the temp of food as it is delivered, in storage, during cooking and during service ( hot cupboard holding, bain maries etc.) is a vital part of any HACCP system.

3. Effective cleaning should be recorded and be part of duty rotas. Food safe chemicals and materials  should be used where required. Management must check that cleaning has been carried out properly and sign off cleaning records.

4. All food establishments must have a pest control plan in place, to include a bait/poison map, identified and numbered  bait points and recorded visits from a professional pest control firm.

Reasons Mistakes Happen!

Poor or Low level of awareness in staff due to lack of training, high staff turn over and the percentage of non English speaking persons involved in the hospitality industry generally.

The Checklists!

4 main records should be maintained as minimum requirement.

1. Delivery Checklist of incoming goods.

2. Storage temp records of all chill/frozen units.

3. Cooking records of meat products.

4. Cleaning records .A checklist of all items that have to be cleaned daily/weekly.

The Law!

Food workers may not be aware that Food Safety is an individual and collective responsibility and comes under criminal law. There are  minimum fines for offences. Those that break the law are “named & shamed” (published on Council Websites and in the newspaper.)

People have been jailed for a breach of food hygiene legislation. It is not just a management responsibility - all workers have a role to play in HACCP.

HACCP, Step by Step!

• Employ only a qualified trainer to train your staff and assist in HACCP implementation.
• Purchase a Thermometer and anti bacterial wipes.
• Ask your trainer to design suitable records for your business. Complete these daily and file.
• With time and further training develop a flow diagram of your operation and conduct a hazard analysis.
• Keep all documents/records on file for inspection by Environmental Health Officer.

Who should comply?

All food businesses producing food whether for profit or not are legally obliged to have a HACCP system in place.

The consequences of non compliance-

• Frequent visits from EHO leading to either an improvement order or closure order.
• Court appearance and fines.
• Negative media coverage. “Named and shamed”
• Food poisoning outbreaks and litigation.

Usual reasons for non-compliance.

1. Lack of awareness and training
2. Reluctance to invest resources in food safety.
3. Non-willingness to comply unless EHO is on the case.

Learning Curve NI Consulting is a Food Hygiene Consultancy. We offer consulting support to businesses that wish to fully implement HACCP in their business. Our personell work with your team to implement the prerequisite programme followed by the formal HACCP implementation. Following this the business would undertake the annual Audit & Review process. We also offer support in most major Language groups. 

Learning Curve NI offer a HACCP based process fully tailored to your operation. They focus on the key areas you and your staff have identified during the course of your training with Learning Curve.

Gerry Diver.

CEO