Establishing Critical Limits for Critical Control Points

Abstract

To achieve maximum success in food product protection, HACCP programs should be restricted to safety. HACCP Critical Control Points (CCPs) should only be used to control those points in a food manufacturing process where lack of control will likely result in the development of a potential safety hazard. They should not be used to control nonhazardous situations. Too many control points to monitor, by inclusion of nonhazardous points, will dilute the focus on safety. With manufacturing resources to monitor HACCP CCPs already limited in most cases, inclusion of nonhazardous points will result in the personnel not understanding which are the truly critical points. The end result of such a disparate program will be that nothing is being adequately monitored. There will then be no assurance that the product being released meets all the safety requirements; a potential hazard may be delivered to consumers. Nonsafety related monitoring procedures should instead be part of a standard quality assurance program.