General Food Hygiene: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems help food business operators look at how food is handled food and provide for procedures that aim to ensure that food produced is safe to eat. In this context, a ‘hazard’ means:

… a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food or feed with the potential to cause an adverse health effect.

It is an important part of routine inspections made by enforcement officers to check that a business has an appropriate HACCP-based food safety management system in place.