HACCP undergoing review
An article I read from the Institute of Food Technologists:
HACCP undergoing review
8/16/2005-The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is seeking comments on the financial impact of its Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations on small and very small plants.
All federal agencies are required, under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, to review existing regulations that have a significant impact on a substantial number of small businesses to determine whether the impact can be minimized.
Small plants are those which have between 10 and 499 employees and more than $2.5 million in annual sales. Very small plants have fewer than 10 employees and less than $2.5 million in annual sales.
The deadline for comments is October 11, 2005. See here for more information.
MY THOUGHTS
As a food technologist, I am all for HACCP. I believe that it is a very effective food safety tool, but one that can easily be used for political reasons.
As an efficient food safety tool, it identifies potential hazards that can occur during the production of a certain food product, thereby stopping them before they occur. It is a brilliant idea since theoretically, it identifies the hazards, identifies means of controlling them, and records things that have been done to control them. In terms of traceability, nothing can beat it. Every single detail in the production of a certain product is inspected and scrutinized. But to do this would entail a lot of costs—manpower, equipment, various laboratory tests, costs of inspection and certification, etc….costs that make it prohibitive for the small scale industries.
Another downside of it is that for some countries, it is also being used as a technical barrier to trade. There are countries that now require HACCP for most imported goods, which makes it more difficult for people in the third world countries to bring their goods into the market. What’s disheartening though is that rules for third world countries are so stringent, while rules for domestic goods are not.
But with all that being said, I still believe that the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. Not because I am a HACCP specialist, but who wouldn’t want a safe food supply?
