According to the FDA, one in every six people in the United States suffers from some form of food borne illness. That is roughly 48 million people who are afflicted, and of them, more than 100,000 cases are bad enough that they have to be hospitalized. It is also estimated that thousands of people still die every year from these illnesses, which is why the HACCP became the standard in the effort to reduce the risks of various chemical and biological hazards.
Any company that produces some kind of food product must conform to some very strict regulations to maintain certain hygiene standards. In order to meet these standards, companies must institute various facility maintenance services like contamination control, airflow and filter management, and even vacuuming services. There are many different ways for health hazards to sneak into a food product, and it requires constant and careful vigilance to make sure the products that go to market are safe to consume.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) was designed to be a systematic approach to prevent problems. Ideally, an HACCP plan should include an effort to conduct a hazard analysis, identify critical control points, and then establish critical limits for each point as well as a way to monitor those points. A company should also have a plan for implementing corrective actions and reporting procedures.
Recently, there has been a new development in the food sanitation industry that was designed to give the FDA even more ability to eliminate food borne illnesses. The FSMA (Food Service Modernization Act) went into law this last January and it gives the FDA the ability to focus on preventative measures rather than forcing them to only act reactively.
In other words, where the FDA could only previously act once they had discovered a problem – once there were a number of reported cases of food borne illness – now they will have the ability to be more proactive and implement policies that will eliminate hazards before they have a chance to infect the food products.
HACCP is applicable to any raw material production, procurement and handling, manufacturing, distribution, and consumption. From the very initial production stages until it reaches the final consumer, these food products must be safe for human consumption, and this management system continues to increase food safety and prevent many potential hazards.
http://news.wooeb.com/955485/haccp-policies-continue-to-eliminate-food-safety-issues
