What Information Do You Need Before Starting a HACCP Hazard Analysis?

When developing a HACCP plan, it can be tempting to start with the hazard analysis itself. You open the hazard analysis table, work through the process flow, identify the hazards, assess the risk….

But effective hazard analysis starts much earlier. Before a business can properly identify and assess its hazards, it needs to establish the facts on which that assessment will be based. That is the purpose of the preparation stage.

HACCP hazard analysis needs context

Consider something as simple as the intended use of a product. The hazards associated with a product can change depending on whether it will be cooked before consumption, eaten without further treatment, used by another manufacturer or consumed by somebody who may be particularly vulnerable.

The materials matter.
The process matters.
The facility matters.
The people who will use the product matter.
Legal requirements, certification requirements and customer requirements matter too.

Without that information, hazard identification can quickly become generic rather than specific to the actual product and process.

Preparation should establish the boundaries first

Before gathering detailed information, the team needs to understand what the product safety plan is responsible for.

There are two important concepts: terms of reference and scope:

• The terms of reference establish the outer boundary of responsibility — where the business’s responsibility starts and where it stops.
• The scope describes what the business does within that boundary.

That becomes particularly important when businesses have different operating models. A manufacturer, a packaging producer, a storage and distribution company and an agent or broker won’t necessarily have the same starting and finishing points. Defining the boundaries makes it clear which activities need to be included in the product safety plan.

What information is needed before HACCP hazard analysis?

The preparation stage can be divided into six principal information sources:

• Reference information – the legislation, standards, customer requirements, industry information and other sources relevant to the business, product and process.
• Material assessment – information about the hazards associated with ingredients, raw materials, packaging and other materials entering the business.
• Product information – including the product description, intended use and intended user.
• Risk-based zones – information needed to understand and manage microbial or allergenic cross-contamination risks within different areas of the facility.
• Facility plan – showing how people, materials, products, equipment, waste, drainage and utilities move through the site.
• Process flow diagram – the step-by-step representation of the process.

These aren’t six pieces of paperwork to produce before an audit. They are six sources of information to feed directly into hazard identification. That distinction is important.

Reference lists need a purpose

Many HACCP plans contain a reference list, but simply naming a piece of legislation or a certification standard, doesn’t help to control product safety. The reference needs to be there for a reason – it may identify a hazard, it may contain a limit or parameter, or it may establish a requirement that needs to be built into the plan.

Where a business is certified, its relevant certification standards should form part of this information. For example, this should include certification standards such as BRCGS, IFS, FSSC 22000 and GLOBALG.A.P., alongside customer codes of practice, and other applicable sources.

Those sources then become part of the information that’s used, when the team moves into hazard analysis.

The same applies to product and material information

A supplier management system will have already identified hazards associated with a material. The important question for the product safety plan, is what information from that assessment – needs to progress into hazard analysis. For business-to-business products, a finished product specification will contain considerable information about a product.

The preparation stage ensures that the aspects affecting product safety; its characteristics, intended user, intended use, treatments, packaging and other relevant factors, are understood before hazards are assessed.

The objective isn’t to duplicate existing systems – it’s to connect them.

Maps and flow diagrams aren’t just audit documents either

Facility plans and process flow diagrams are also commonly created because a HACCP standard expects them, but both have a much more practical role.

A facility plan allows the team to examine how movement around the site could create cross-contamination risks, and the process flow diagram provides an accurate visual map of the process and a logical sequence, against which the team can consider where operational hazards may arise during hazard analysis.

Give the work to the people who understand it

One benefit of separating preparation from hazard analysis, is that the work doesn’t need to fall to one person.

Different members of the multidisciplinary team are naturally better suited to different information sources.

Regulatory or Technical personnel may manage reference information.
Procurement understands materials and suppliers.
Product Development understands the product.
Operational teams understand the facility and process.

Once that work is complete, the information can be brought together for hazard analysis.

Preparation makes HACCP hazard analysis more relevant

Historically, information such as scope, product descriptions and intended use has often been documented because standards require it, but it’s not typically used to develop the hazard analysis. That misses the point.

Preparation is about gathering the facts before making decisions about risk. When those facts are relevant, accurate and connected to the next stage, hazard analysis becomes more targeted to the actual product, process, facility and business – and far more valuable than simply producing another set of documents for an auditor.

Build a stronger foundation for hazard analysis

A robust hazard analysis depends on the quality of the information that goes into it. If the product, materials, process, facility and relevant requirements haven’t been properly understood first, it becomes much harder for the HACCP team to identify and assess hazards consistently.

Our Level 3 HACCP for manufacturing course takes learners through the preparation needed before hazard analysis begins. It explains how to define the scope of the product safety plan, gather and organise the relevant information and use the expertise of the multidisciplinary team to make sure that the assessment is based on the actual product, process and business.

The course then shows how that information feeds directly into hazard identification and assessment, rather than existing simply as supporting paperwork.

For businesses looking to strengthen their HACCP system, this provides a much more structured approach: establish the facts first, then use them to drive the hazard analysis.

Find out more about our Level 3 HACCP for manufacturing course and how it can help your team develop a more relevant and effective product safety plan.