Food Safety Assurance

Carl A Batt, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Food safety assurance is among the most important activities as it relates to the production of a food product. It encompasses the
entire supply chain from raw ingredients to final product and includes microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards. Food safety
assurance is complicated but necessary; given the means through which many food products are manufactured, from the geograph-
ically diverse ingredient sources, to the worldwide distribution of the product. Food products start with ingredients that might be
sourced from one country, produced in another, and then finally distributed in a third. Meat products start with animals raised in
the United States, processed in China, and then returned for consumption in the United States. The absence of an effective world-
wide food regulatory process then defaults to a given country and there is very little harmony in these country-specific regulations
(Hobbs et al., 2002).
The impact of failing to develop and deploy a food safety assurance program is obvious. Beyond the immediate toll of illness
by victims who consume an unsafe product are the secondary challenges to the business model. The most recent example is
a series of outbreaks of food-borne illness traced to a number of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in the United States. Both
Escherichia coli and one Norovirus outbreak are being tied to food from these restaurants. In 2015, Chipotle’s stock price went
from a high of $758 to close at $491 at the end of December. This $8.2 billion loss in market capitalization helps to underscore
the economic impact of failures in food safety assurance in addition to lost customer confidence. While Chipotle clearly has
a food safety assurance program, their model, given the enormous growth in the number of restaurants opening each year,
may be strained. The result is a few well-publicized incidences of food-borne illness along with the resulting scrutiny as well
as consequences to their brand reputation.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) (Mortimore and Wallace, 2013) is an approach to examining a food produc-
tion process and identifying:
1. where potential hazards may exist; and
2. identifying the most critical points in the process that determine the safety of the product.
Originally developed in the 1960s by NASA to identify critical points in a very complicated process (making food for space
missions, a bad place to have a bout of gastrointestinal disorders), it was adapted and adopted initially by Pillsbury and then
by the food industry for food safety assurance(Hulebak and Schlosser, 2002). A typical HACCP plan looks at the overall process
from ingredients to final product and beyond and determines where critical points exist, which if they fail will dramatically impact
product safety. Integral to the HACCP plan is the corrective action that will be taken if a critical control point fails to meet the
prescribed standard. For example, it is clear that pasteurization in a fluid milk process is a critical control point. Failure to reach
the prescribed temperature and hold the milk at that temperature for the prescribed period of time will be highly problematic.
The goal is to identify the critical control points (CCP), develop quantitative metrics, and monitor those control points (CP). It saves
resources and directs them toward those aspects of the process which are most important on a risk basis. Consider the importance of
pasteurization as compared to label printing and you understand HACCP. HACCP can be applied to virtually any food production
process. It can also cover the retail and food service components of the food supply chain.
HACCP plans are typically visualized as a flow chart with each of the unit operations identified. An example of a generic HACCP
plan is presented in Figure 1. In this plan there are CP and CCP. CCP are defined as those components of the overall scheme that are
critical and can be monitored with a quantitative metric. They are also points in the process where a failure to meet specifications for
the process will result in a potentially catastrophic outcome. In some cases, as with CCP-1, a specification on a raw ingredient (for
example, eggs which might be used and need to be Salmonella-free) can be a requirement of the ingredient supplier with backup
testing by the producer.
Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) is a holistic program that is intended to assure the safety of a food product. There are
a number of variations of the FSQA theme. In general they include development and implementation of testing or monitoring
procedures that will help ensure the safety and quality of the product. It involves having standard operating procedures in place
and a means to ensure they are followed. In general these procedures contribute to good manufacturing practices, overseen by
management, and involve not just all of the inherent processes but also the training of personnel responsible for the carrying
out the process. There are a growing number of FSQA programs being implemented and also vendors who offer not only the
program but also certification in the program. One important element of an FSQA program is typically the ability to identify
and trace the distribution of discreet ‘lots’ of a product. In the event of a food-borne illness or the subsequent discovery of some
failure in the quality assurance process, that discreet lot of food can be located and if necessary recalled from the distribution
channel (Van der Vorst, 2006).
The value of an FSQA plan in terms of consumer buying preferences is difficult to determine (Botonaki et al., 2006). Certainly
a food-borne illness outbreak attributed to a manufacturer can have devastating, but not irreparable, consequences. Some labels
such as those that designate the product to be ‘organic’ have added value to the manufacturer. There are precedents for product
quality assurance as is evidenced by the Underwriters Laboratory certification on products that are electrically powered.

Reference Module in Food Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.03442-9 1

CCP-1 CP-1 CP-2

raw ingredient A raw ingredient B raw ingredient C

mixing

processing CCP-2

packaging CP-3

storage CCP-3

Figure 1 Generic HACCP plan.

In the end, food safety assurance is largely dependent upon a processor or food service provider having control over the quality
of their incoming ingredients and the critical processing elements. It insures that ingredients are of the highest possible quality given
the business model and market value of the end product. It also ensures that there are processes in place that are validated and
monitored with respect to food safety.

References

Botonaki, A., Polymeros, K., Tsakiridou, E., Mattas, K., 2006. The role of food quality certification on consumers’ food choices. Br. Food J. 108 (2), 77–90.
Hobbs, J.E., Fearne, A., Spriggs, J., 2002. Incentive structures for food safety and quality assurance: an international comparison. Food Control 13 (2), 77–81.
Hulebak, K.L., Schlosser, W., 2002. Hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) history and conceptual overview. Risk Anal. 22 (3), 547–552.
Mortimore, S., Wallace, C., 2013. HACCP: A Practical Approach. Springer Science & Business Media.
Van der Vorst, J.G., 2006. Product traceability in food-supply chains. Accredit. Qual. Assur. 11 (1–2), 33–37.