HACCP method ? A practical approach

Analyse des risques – point critique pour leur maîtrise" (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) was the acronym adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1997, in the third revision of its founding text . However, the evolution of terminology has led to a preference for "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point". This terminology better reflects the mission of the method within each company, and avoids confusion with the global approach to risk analysis, also described by Codex, which is the responsibility of States within the World Trade Organization. HACCP is therefore a method, an approach structured around seven principles, designed to prevent food safety problems by implementing pre-established operational activities, resources and technical solutions, and to provide proof of this!

In this way, HACCP provides reassurance and confidence by demonstrating an organization's ability to identify the hazards that genuinely threaten the hygiene of its products, and to organize its activities to control them. Initially developed in the late 1960s for the chemical industry in the United States, the HACCP method was quickly adopted by the food and beverage industries, again in the United States, before being globalized. Today, after a few years of uncertainty due to texts describing the method with a number of steps varying from 11 to 14, the "Codex Alimentarius" text is the benchmark and has set this number at 12. In fact, a very simple way of presenting the HACCP method as a whole is to indicate that its final stages are the seven principles of the method, preceded by five preliminary stages designed to collect all the information required to achieve the famous seven principles (table 1 ). This all-encompassing nature of the method is one of its strengths, as everyone uses the same method flow.

The regulatory status of the HACCP method has also evolved, particularly in Europe. First strongly recommended, then mandatory (after transposition into national law) for the application of its principles in the famous hygiene directive 93/43 (now repealed), the HACCP method is now firmly anchored in regulations (EC regulation 178/2002 or "food law") and widely used in companies. In addition to its compulsory nature, the HACCP method represents a genuine tool for continuous improvement,...