Framework Quality & Manufacturing
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a method for controlling food safety hazards by identifying where in a process a hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level, and then monitoring those points.
It rests on seven principles: conduct a hazard analysis, identify critical control points, set critical limits, monitor, take corrective action, verify, and keep records. The Codex Alimentarius general principles of food hygiene define it internationally.
In the United States it is a legal requirement for seafood (21 CFR Part 123), juice (21 CFR Part 120), and meat, poultry, and egg products under USDA FSIS (9 CFR Part 417); most other FDA-regulated food falls under the broader preventive controls rule in 21 CFR Part 117, which uses HACCP thinking but is not called HACCP.
In writing, a HACCP program needs a hazard analysis, a written HACCP plan for each product or process category listing CCPs, critical limits, monitoring procedures, corrective actions, verification procedures, and record keeping, plus prerequisite programs (sanitation, pest control, supplier control) that support it.
Regulators and GFSI auditors look for the plan, the records that show it is followed, and evidence of validation and reassessment.
Mandatory in the US for seafood processors and importers, juice processors, and federally inspected meat, poultry, and egg product establishments. Mandatory in the EU for all food business operators under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 (HACCP-based procedures).
Elsewhere it is expected by GFSI-benchmarked schemes (SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000), retailers, and foodservice customers even where not written into law.
Product description and intended use; process flow diagram verified on site; hazard analysis with rationale for each step; written HACCP plan(s) with CCPs, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and records; validation evidence for critical limits; monitoring records with real-time entries and reviewer sign-off; corrective action records; calibration records; verification records including records review and product testing; prerequisite programs and sanitation standard operating procedures with daily records; HACCP team training certificates; reassessment records and change history; for FSIS plants, the decision-making documents supporting the hazard analysis.
Where the requirement sits: Codex HACCP principles 1-7; FDA/USDA HACCP plan requirements
Controls the written plan and proves training acknowledgment.
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Assessors
Government inspectors where HACCP is mandated (FDA investigators and state partners for seafood and juice; FSIS inspection personnel and enforcement investigators for meat and poultry; EU competent authorities). Third-party certification body auditors assess HACCP as part of GFSI scheme audits. for regulatory inspection.
Third-party HACCP certification, where offered, is typically under a certification body accredited by a national accreditation body for the relevant scheme.
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Consultants
A large ecosystem of HACCP consultants and trainers exists, including International HACCP Alliance accredited courses and Seafood HACCP Alliance courses. Consultants facilitate the hazard analysis, write the plan and prerequisite programs, validate critical limits, train the HACCP team and monitors, and run mock audits. First plans commonly take one to four months.
Firms that name this framework in their own material. Listings we have not verified yet come from public filings and partner lists. Each firm can confirm its own.
Software
Tools that name this framework in their own material.
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From the publisher
Approve the policies HACCP asks for, keep every version, and record a named acknowledgment from each person who has to read them.