Dear Borio,
I agree entirely with Martin’s comments however if you would like to compare some IT examples (which you personally may find ambitious!) –
The FAO (Codex) viewpoint –
THE HACCP TEAM
Prior to proceeding to HACCP team selection, it is extremely important to have full commitment to the HACCP initiative from management at all levels. Without a firm commitment, it may be difficult or impossible to implement the HACCP plan. Before the study is begun, management should inform all staff of the intention to implement HACCP. Both the company and the personnel involved in the development of the HACCP plan must be totally committed to its implementation.
The first task in the application of HACCP is to assemble a team having the knowledge and expertise to develop an HACCP plan. The team should be multidisciplinary and could include plant personnel from production/sanitation, quality assurance, laboratory, engineering and inspection. It is essential to assemble the right blend of expertise and experience, as the team will collect, collate and evaluate technical data and identify hazards and critical control points. In smaller establishments, one person may fulfil several roles or even constitute the whole team. In the latter case the use of external consultants or advice may be necessary.
The team should also include personnel who are directly involved in daily processing activities, as they are more familiar with the specific variability and limitations of the operations. Their representation will foster a sense of ownership among those who will have to implement the plan. The HACCP team may require independent outside experts to advise on identified issues or problem areas; for example, an expert in public health risks associated with the product or process may be hired. However, complete reliance on outside sources is not recommended in developing the HACCP plan, as such an approach may lack the support of the plant personnel.
Ideally the team should not be larger than six, although for some stages of the study it may be necessary to enlarge the team temporarily with personnel from other departments, e.g. marketing, research and development or purchasing and finance.
Team composition
When selecting the team, the coordinator should focus on:
• Those who will be involved in hazard identification
• Those who will be involved in determination of critical control points
• Those who will monitor critical control points
• Those who will verify operations at critical control points
• Those who will examine samples and perform verification procedures
Knowledge required
Selected personnel should have a basic understanding of:
• Technology and equipment used on the processing lines
• Practical aspects of the food operations
• The flow and technology of the process
• Applied aspects of food microbiology
• HACCP principles and techniques
Scope
One of the first tasks of the HACCP team should be to identify the scope of the HACCP plan. The team should:
• Limit the study to a specific product and process
• Define the type(s) of hazards to be included (e.g. biological, chemical, physical)
• Define the part of the food chain to be studied
Coordinator
The team must include a coordinator (chairperson) whose role is to:
• Ensure that the composition of the team meets the needs of the study
• Suggest changes to the team if necessary
• Coordinate the team's work
• Ensure that the agreed established plan is followed
• Share the work and responsibilities
• Ensure that a systematic approach is used
• Ensure that the scope of the study is met
• Chair meetings so that team members can freely express their ideas
• Represent the team before management
• Provide management with an estimate of the time, money and labour required for the study
TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
It is essential that the team members be trained on the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene and the guidelines for the application of the HACCP system to ensure that the team will work together with a common focus and use the same approach and terminology.
RESOURCES
The number of meetings will depend on the scope of the study and the complexity of the operation. For efficiency, each meeting should have a specific objective, a planned agenda and a limited duration. Meetings should be of sufficient frequency to maintain momentum, but spaced out enough so there will be time between meetings for the gathering of any necessary information. It is advantageous to keep the study proceeding at a reasonable pace to maintain the enthusiasm of the team. A time-line should be developed and goals set for the accomplishment of team and individual assignments.
To ensure success and demonstrate commitment, it is important for senior management to allocate the necessary resources for the HACCP study. These may include:
• Time for team meetings and administration
• Costs of initial training
• Necessary documents
• Access to analytical laboratories
• Access to information sources to answer questions raised by the team (e.g. universities, public and private research authorities, government and public authorities, scientific and technical literature, databases)
http://www.fao.org/d...05....0 task 1
or a Canadian view -
4.1 - Assemble your HACCP team
Prior to selecting the members of your HACCP team, you will need to obtain, from all levels of management, full support for the HACCP initiative. Management will demonstrate such commitment by allocating resources to develop and implement HACCP. For example, resources will be needed for training employees who are responsible for HACCP and for maintaining the HACCP system on an ongoing basis.
Assemble a team of people with the expertise necessary to develop a HACCP plan. The team should be multidisciplinary and may include representatives from production, sanitation, quality assurance, food microbiology, maintenance and engineering.
The HACCP team should include personnel who are directly involved in the daily processing activities, since they will be familiar with the variability and limitations of the operations. By including these employees in the plan's development, you will foster a sense of ownership within your establishment. Your team may also solicit assistance from independent consultants for the development of its HACCP plans. However, a plan developed totally by outside sources may lack the support required from plant personnel.
When selecting the team, choose individuals who can help to identify hazards, determine CCPs, and monitor and verify CCPs.
HACCP team members should understand:
the technology or equipment used on processing lines;
the practical aspects of food operations;
the flow and technology of processes;
the applied aspects of food microbiology; and
HACCP principles and techniques.
http://www.inspectio...2sec3-45e.shtml
ISO 22000 seems suspiciously concise (although I suppose they rely on Codex) requiring that the food safety team require a mixture of multi-disciplinary knowledge and experience so as to develop and maintain the FS management system. This includes the relevant products, processes, equipment and FS hazards as per the scope of the FSMS.
More specifically, New Zealand for dairy products (inc example for hard cheese) are also brief although they again xref Codex -
“It is essential that the HACCP team has the right blend of expertise for the product(s) and/or
process being considered. Typically, the types of people involved may include engineers,
microbiologists, production and/or quality control staff.”
http://www.nzfsa.gov.../d110-guide.pdf
IMO, the reality is that many, non-giant, businesses have to do the best they can with available staff (nonetheless validatable sufficiency is required) however the team clearly has to be able to do these (from the last ref.) –
"HACCP is not a stand-alone programme but is part of a larger control system which builds on
a series of prerequisite programmes. Therefore, prior to implementation of a Hazard
Identification and Analyses or HACCP Plan, there is a requirement for the organisation to
develop and implement applicable prerequisite programmes and other supporting systems.
Prerequisite programmes provide the basic environment and operating conditions that are
necessary for the production of safe and wholesome food. They should effectively control the
common hazards that apply to the whole operation, leaving HACCP to deal with the specific
significant product or process hazards."
And –
"The hazard identification is effectively a brainstorm by the HACCP team of the hazards that
may be reasonably expected to occur at each step in the process. This includes an
assessment of the ingredients used in the product, the activities conducted at each step in the
process and the equipment used, the final product and its method of storage and distribution,
and the intended use and the consumers of the product. Based on this review, a list of
potential biological, chemical and physical hazards that may be introduced, increased or
controlled at each step in the production process should be developed.
At this point of the analysis, the hazard source should be identified and where appropriate,
the actual hazard should be stated in specific terms. The level of specificity and detail is
determined by the extent of hazard identification required to ensure effective hazard control.
For example the hazard description, “Biological hazard in milk” is not specific or detailed
enough. The description would better be, “Pathogenic bacteria, e.g. E. coli, Listeria
monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus in raw milk”. This will ensure that
the control measures are relevant and effective in controlling the specific hazard(s) identified.
In order to assess the likelihood or probability of the hazard occurring, a combination of
experience, information from technical literature etc. may be useful. For example, there is a
higher probability of manufacturing unsafe pasteurised chocolate milk from cocoa powder
containing high Bacillus cereus spore counts (>102cfu/g)."
and so on as per the now well-known HACCP principles.
Hope this is useful –
Rgds / Charles.C
