The broader application of HACCP concepts to food quality in Australia

Abstract

Traditionally the seven principles/12–14 steps of HACCP and HACCP planning have been used to develop control measures for food safety hazards within a production process — Initially biological, then subsequently including chemical and physical. Australian export food industries have been on a food safety focused HACCP-based quality assurance system since 1984. In the early 1990s, it was recognised that customers expected safe food but discriminated on quality when making their buying decision. This has lead to the development of two key voluntary, third party certified standards focused on using the HACCP principles for both quality and food safety: • — SQF 2000 ™ Quality Code: 1995 • — Woolworths Vendor Quality Management Standard ® (WVQMS ®). Both standards were developed in 1995, after significant research into customer expectations, and small-to-medium size business development capabilities. Customer defined product specifications became the key to developing these HACCP-based Quality Assurance Standards. The HACCP principles are used to identify Quality Critical Points (QCPs), and Quality Points (QPs) in the process, or in the case of horticulture and animal husbandry sectors of food production, in the life cycle of the fruit/vegetable I animal. Both standards require all food safety hazards to be addressed in the same manner as conventional HACCP Plans using the Codex (1996) principles and guidelines. Both standards require a number of pre-requisite programs to be in place to support the detailed HACCP plans.