Need help to identify my hazards and critical points

Hi:

I am new to HACCP and need help to identify my hazards and critical points. We do not process seafood or meat. We manufacture soups, salads, bottled sauces and a various other products. We do have products that we have sent out for analysis to find out PH and water activity. Due to the results we have adjusted the recipes to be under the required specs. I have the spec sheets on all ingredients that we use to make our products. Some ingredients we have are sour cream, mayonnaise, precooked hard boiled eggs, and a few variety of nuts. I understand that some of the ingredients that we use are "allergens", what I am not sure about is how to identify what my hazards are. I look forward to any input and help I can get.


Thank You
Catrina

Hi:

I am new to HACCP and need help to identify my hazards and critical points. We do not process seafood or meat. We manufacture soups, salads, bottled sauces and a various other products. We do have products that we have sent out for analysis to find out PH and water activity. Due to the results we have adjusted the recipes to be under the required specs. I have the spec sheets on all ingredients that we use to make our products. Some ingredients we have are sour cream, mayonnaise, precooked hard boiled eggs, and a few variety of nuts. I understand that some of the ingredients that we use are "allergens", what I am not sure about is how to identify what my hazards are. I look forward to any input and help I can get.


Thank You
Catrina

Dear CRoberts / Catrina,

Welcome to the forum !

You don't mention your (QA?) technical background which I (hopefully) assume exists.
The replies may also relate to whether you / yr company are intending to get certification to a specific standard, eg BRC, SQF.

My first response is probably a generic one. Most people, even those with an existing QA knowledge, find the need to look for a course on HACCP. And especially if you require personal / company qualifications.

HACCP is basically a tool to enable the development of a proactive "BPCA" Food Safety system in combination (usually) with some kind of Quality Management Scheme, eg ISO9001. Net result = FSMS. In addition to appreciating the bio-physico-chemical-allergenic (BPCA) properties of yr product/process/environment, HACCP particularly involves a knowledge of risk assessment.

As a precursor there are various (hundreds) of textbooks on HACCP available, one well-known one being Haccp: A Practical Approach - Sara Mortimore, Carol Wallace. This is now getting a bit old (2nd ed.ca 1998) but IMO contains some superbly presented material from the ground up.

Other standard procedural refs exist, eg via Codex (Europe oriented) and all yr presumably familiar US sources, eg ICMCF, FDA.

Some complete, generic, do-it-yourself packages are available at several places for free dwl on this site. Some commercial packages (both generic HACCP [I think] and also tailored for specific standards are also promoted/supported here if you look at the advertised materials).

I suggest you give a little more detail as to any preferred direction of assistance.

Rgds / Charles.C

PS, Of course, if you believe you already hv sufficient knowledge to jump the above, there are undoubtedly specific haccp plans available for some of yr mentioned products, either already on this forum "somewhere" or the net. I'm a bit surprised yr company would not have found it necessary to hv previously entered into the haccp arena

Hi:

I am new to HACCP and need help to identify my hazards and critical points. We do not process seafood or meat. We manufacture soups, salads, bottled sauces and a various other products. We do have products that we have sent out for analysis to find out PH and water activity. Due to the results we have adjusted the recipes to be under the required specs. I have the spec sheets on all ingredients that we use to make our products. Some ingredients we have are sour cream, mayonnaise, precooked hard boiled eggs, and a few variety of nuts. I understand that some of the ingredients that we use are "allergens", what I am not sure about is how to identify what my hazards are. I look forward to any input and help I can get.


Thank You
Catrina

Dear Catarina

Your problem same as my problem few months ago, I was new in food manufacture, I'm in spice manufacturer.

Actually to identify the hazard, you must understanding your process flow diagram, first of all you must know about the raw material characteristic and measuring the hazard potential when you received them (identify the contamination potentials - biological/chemical/physical).
Then in the processing area, you must identify all of the hazard potential in every detail of process ( preparation, mixing, cooking, packing. etc.) So you can measure all hazard points in your process.

Regards,
Indy

Attached file may assist in determining CCP/Prp etc.

Based on Campden Guideline 42 HACCP: a practical guide (4th ed 2009), based on yes/no questions.

There is seperate tabs for PrP, CCP and Allergen determination.

File is not password protected and can be 'unlocked' to amend accordingly (was based on UK legislation when created in 2009).

Regards

Dear Scotty,

Thks for the ingenious excel.

To maybe avoid confusing the OP, it might be mentioned that 1st sheet is partially oriented to ISO 22000 terminology. (And, like everybody else, assumes a particular interpretation of an oprp).

I hv attached a composite diagram and example to (hopefully) illustrate yr 2nd sheet.

tree.png   45.06KB   55 downloads
example2.png   48.09KB   52 downloads

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi:

I am new to HACCP and need help to identify my hazards and critical points. We do not process seafood or meat. We manufacture soups, salads, bottled sauces and a various other products. We do have products that we have sent out for analysis to find out PH and water activity. Due to the results we have adjusted the recipes to be under the required specs. I have the spec sheets on all ingredients that we use to make our products. Some ingredients we have are sour cream, mayonnaise, precooked hard boiled eggs, and a few variety of nuts. I understand that some of the ingredients that we use are "allergens", what I am not sure about is how to identify what my hazards are. I look forward to any input and help I can get.


Thank You
Catrina

Hi Catrina,

Have you consulted the HACCP decision tree?

http://www.fao.org/d...9E/y1579e03.htm

Diagram 2 on the link above will help you on same.

Further, I believe you have to discuss this issue with the HACCP team and you all have to agree what steps are critical and those that are not. HACCP is not a one man system, it needs various input from a team with in depth knowledge of the process and products.

Risk assessment of your process must be done by someone with sufficient knowledge and experience on HACCP.

regards,
FSB