In a risk assessment how is the probability of a hazard concluded?
How the probability of a hazard is concluded
For example, in receiving the raw materials, the probability of certain hazard occurrence we will consider :
the occurrence probability in the raw material itself
or
the occurrence probability in the next step
or
the occurrence probability in the finished product.
Please reply, even if there is a reference, I am very grateful
How the probability of a hazard is concluded
For example, in receiving the raw materials, the probability of certain hazard occurrence we will consider :
the occurrence probability in the raw material itself
or
the occurrence probability in the next step
or
the occurrence probability in the finished product.
Please reply, even if there is a reference, I am very grateful
Hi Mohamed,
Hazards at the receiving raw materials stage are usually handled as PRPs so no need for a specific risk assessment.
Assuming you refer to Codex/iso haccp, the risk associated with a hazard at any particular stage can be expressed as risk = likelihood of occurrence in the finished product at consumption x severity if occurring.
quoting iso22000:2018 -
The organization shall evaluate each food safety hazard with regard to:
a) the likelihood of its occurrence in the end product prior to application of control measures;b) the severity of its adverse health effects in relation to the intended use
etc
If you're including it as part of your HACCP, even though it might be controlled by your other PRPs, you still need to do a risk assessment to identify the potential hazards at each step. You might find there to be no significant hazard but your risk assessment will explain that. Probability could be based off of past issues, location, contracted carriers etc. The steps from receiving to shipping and everything in between need to be assessed even though the reason for no action might be PRPs or procedure that control or eliminate the hazard. For us the recognized potential hazards at receiving are: Adulteration, damage, contamination or intentional sabotage, all of which are discovered during incoming inspection and controlled by the response outlined in procedure and records. All of the hazards are controlled or eliminated at that step so the following steps should have no hazard from this one. The next step starts from there. Hope this helps!
If you're including it as part of your HACCP, even though it might be controlled by your other PRPs, you still need to do a risk assessment to identify the potential hazards at each step. You might find there to be no significant hazard but your risk assessment will explain that. Probability could be based off of past issues, location, contracted carriers etc. The steps from receiving to shipping and everything in between need to be assessed even though the reason for no action might be PRPs or procedure that control or eliminate the hazard. For us the recognized potential hazards at receiving are: Adulteration, damage, contamination or intentional sabotage, all of which are discovered during incoming inspection and controlled by the response outlined in procedure and records. All of the hazards are controlled or eliminated at that step so the following steps should have no hazard from this one. The next step starts from there. Hope this helps!
Hi Hoosiersmoker,
(little OT)
traditionally HACCP hazard analyses are limited to consideration of unintentional BCP safety-related hazards (inc. sub-categories such as allergenic, radiological)
This excludes features such as adulteration (intentional/economically motivated) and intentional sabotage.
Some (all?) GFSI-recognised Standards and FSMA have wider Scoped requirements within their interpretation of "Food Safety"..
I understand that hence my reference was not limited to only HACCP, just mentioned it as it does require risk assessment. Just covering all of the Risk Assessment bases as the original post is somewhat vague as to the purpose of the risk assessment.