Beacon Compliance give some tips to ensure your HACCP plan is always audit ready!

HACCP. Many people shudder just thinking about it. We all know that a HACCP plan is required by law, and that it’s a hefty requirement of every type of food safety accreditation, but often, the HACCP plan is left to gather dust on the shelf until the next audit. To have peace of mind that your HACCP plan is always audit ready, review these key areas!

1. Prerequisites: Prerequisites are the backbone of your HACCP plan, and any changes can affect your hazard analysis and critical control points (CCPs). What are your prerequisites? Have there been any changes to your prerequisites? Asking these questions will capture any changes and you will then be able to update the HACCP plan accordingly.
2. New Suppliers: If you have new suppliers, there may be more hazards which need to be controlled. Where are the new suppliers based? Have your new suppliers been approved? Are they supplying new raw materials? Asking these questions will allow you to identify any weaknesses in the HACCP plan and apply new controls.
3. New Raw Materials: New raw materials may require new storage areas e.g., chilled / frozen, or may contain new allergens, requiring extra allergen controls. List the new raw materials and check their storage requirements and allergen content to ensure they fit into your current production process and HACCP plan. If not, update the HACCP plan to reflect the new raw materials.
4. Changes to Working Practices: If the way you make the product has changed, this will affect the process flow diagram, hazard analysis, and potentially change your CCPs. Always ensure your HACCP plan is a true reflection of the production process, so all steps and hazards have been included.
5. CCP’s: CCPs are the most important steps in the production process, and they must be monitored correctly to ensure the product is safe. Are there any new CCPs? Have you removed any CCPs? List your CCPs and their critical limits to ensure you have included them all.
6. Complaints & Product Recalls: Customer complaints and recalls are a good way of checking your current control measures are working correctly. Trend your complaints. Have you had more complaints this month? Have you had lots of complaints about the same issue? Have you had to withdraw / recall a product? If so, you can look back at your current control measures stated in your HACCP plan and add extra controls to prevent the issue reoccurring.

Et voilà! Six key areas to review to ensure your HACCP plan is audit ready 24/7, 365. Now dust off your HACCP plan and get reviewing!