HACCP

Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs requires that 'Food business operators shall put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the HACCP principles'. Those principles, set out in the same Article, require operators to identify hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels, identify the critical control points at which control is essential, and establish, monitor and document the controls and corrective actions needed to keep those hazards under control. Regulation 852/2004 continues to apply in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as retained EU law following Brexit.

The Food Standards Agency's guidance to businesses (now published on GOV.UK) confirms in practical terms that 'Your food safety management system must meet the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles', requiring businesses to identify food hazards, identify critical control points (CCPs), set and monitor limits for those CCPs, put checks in place to confirm the system is working, correct any problems, and keep records — records that must be produced as evidence in a food safety incident. The guidance recognises three main categories of food hazard: microbiological (harmful bacteria), chemical (including cleaning chemicals and allergens), and physical (foreign objects).