A bulletin for the Australian Food Industry February 2004
Hepatitis A outbreaks associated with green onions
More on foodborne viruses
E.coli outbreak linked to contaminated building
Tin in canned foods
European Union food hygiene legislation
Download PDF file of this issueEuropean Union food hygiene legislation
In the June 2003 issue of Food Safety & Hygiene under the heading, 'HACCP and small businesses in the UK ', it was reported that draft European Union (EU) food hygiene legislation would require that food businesses have a full seven point HACCP plan as described in the Codex Alimentarius basic hygiene texts.
This was opposed by the UK through its Food Standards Agency (FSA). FSA had funded a number of studies (Food Safety & Hygiene, March 2003) to measure the cost effectiveness of legislation introduced under the UK Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations in 1995. Their stated aim was to safeguard the interests of consumers in relation to food. It was also necessary that any controls proposed under European legislation were proportionate to risk and not burdensome to food business operators of any size or sector, or to the relevant enforcement bodies.
As a result of further negotiation the UK agency believes that modified European draft legislation represents a significant improvement based on its own experience. In its December 2003/January 2004 newsletter (PDF), FSA reports that, from their point of view, significant improvements to the European legislation include:
- The principle that food safety management procedures should be based on HACCP principles rather than full HACCP be operated. In theory at least, this will enable a flexible approach to be adopted by those businesses for which the full rigour of the HACCP system would not be appropriate.
- Prescriptive time limits for the retention of documentation have also been removed.
- Requirements for primary production have
been clarified. The role of guides to good
practice has been augmented so that it is
now clear these can describe hazards and
the means of controlling them in a generic
way.
In the UK,since the implementation of the General Food Hygiene Regulations in 1995, food businesses including retail and catering businesses have been required to analyse and control hazards on the basis of applying five of the seven HACCP principles.
The new European proposals contain the requirement for all food businesses to verify procedures. The proposals also require that all food businesses currently operating under General Food Hygiene law will have to keep documentar y records of the procedures in place.
As was noted in one of the FSA studies (Food Safety & Hygiene, March 2003), without a verification and recording step, enforcement officers have difficulty in proving non-compliance with the existing hazard analysis requirement in UK legislation.
Codex Alimentarius, 1997The HACCP system consists of the following seven principles: Principle 1 Conduct a hazard analysis. Principle 2 Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs). Principle 3 Establish critical limit(s). Principle 4 Establish a system to monitor control of the CCP. Principle 5 Establish the corrective action to be taken when monitoring indicates that a par ticular CCP is not under control. Principle 6 Establish procedures for verification to confirm that the HACCP system is working effectively. Principle 7 Establish documentation concerning all procedures and records appropriate to these principles and their application.