HACCP Determination of CCPs Procedure

Evaluate significant hazards before assigning CCPs

The procedure starts from the hazards identified as significant during hazard analysis. For each significant hazard, the HACCP Food Safety Team reviews the available control measures, assesses whether those measures prevent, eliminate or reduce the hazard to an acceptable level, and determines whether control can be achieved through prerequisite programmes or a combination of measures, or whether a CCP is required.

That evaluation considers the nature and severity of the hazard, the risk to the intended consumer if control is lost at the process step, the capability of the control measure, and whether the measure is essential for ensuring product safety.

Define when a control measure becomes critical

A control measure is identified as a CCP where the team determines that it is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a significant hazard to an acceptable level, cannot be fully managed by prerequisite programmes alone, and would present an unacceptable risk to the intended consumer if it failed.

The procedure also requires the team to consider whether any subsequent process step is capable of controlling the hazard and whether the measure can be reliably monitored and controlled at the step in question. Where more than one measure is needed to control a hazard adequately, the collective effect of those measures is assessed before the CCP decision is made.

Keep decision ownership and evidence visible

Responsibility is allocated across the functions that support robust CCP determination. Senior management provides the time, resources and support needed for the activity and ensures that relevant facility, equipment, process or product changes are communicated to the HACCP Food Safety Team.

Technical or quality management coordinates the CCP determination process, ensures that the team has access to relevant information, maintains documented evidence for decisions and puts the required monitoring, verification, validation and escalation arrangements in place following CCP determination.

For each significant hazard, the HACCP Food Safety Team documents whether a CCP is required, the justification for that decision, the associated control measures, and any assumptions, scientific evidence or process knowledge used to support the conclusion. Identified CCPs are recorded in the HACCP Food Safety Plan and maintained as part of the FSQMS.

Review CCP determinations when control assumptions change

The procedure requires CCP determinations to be reviewed at planned intervals and when changes may affect process control, product safety or hazard significance. Relevant triggers include changes to raw materials, recipes, processes, equipment, layouts or technologies, as well as incidents, consumer complaints, audit findings, deviations or new information that may indicate a weakness in hazard control.

Where CCP assignments need to change, the procedure requires those changes to be documented, justified and approved through document control. This keeps CCP decisions connected to current process conditions rather than leaving earlier determinations in place after the basis for control has changed.

Connect CCP decisions with HACCP competence and system interfaces

Personnel involved in CCP determination are trained in HACCP principles, the role of CCPs, evaluation of significant hazards and control measures, documentation of decisions and application of the related HACCP procedures. Training is recorded and reviewed for effectiveness.

Within the wider FSQMS, the procedure provides the decision point between hazard analysis and the confirmed CCPs recorded in the HACCP Food Safety Plan. It also creates the evidence needed to show why a significant hazard was, or was not, assigned to CCP control.