Like a cop on the beat, James Reed patrols his assigned food processing area daily for any wrongdoing. But instead of seeking out thugs on street corners, he's prowling for broken glass and other food hazards lurking inside automated food processing lines.

Reed is a lead person in Heinz USA's Pittsburgh factory, where he oversees the filling and capping of 900 baby food jars a minute. Several times a day he fills in for other employees and stops the processing line, checks the machine for glass, documents findings via computer, and, if necessary, withdraws the affected food products for disposal.

Reed's actions are part of a new food safety system that focuses on preventing food-borne hazards that can cause illness. The system is known as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, or HACCP (pronounced hassip), and Heinz is one of a number of U.S. food manufacturers that have adopted it within the last five years. The National Food Processors Association estimates that about half of its 300 member processors use some form of HACCP in their operations.

More may soon join them. In August 1994, FDA announced in an advance notice of proposed rule-making that it was considering whether to make HACCP mandatory for much of the U.S. food supply. FDA already requires HACCP for the low-acid canned food industry and has proposed it for the seafood industry.

Also, FDA incorporated HACCP into its 1994 Food Code. The Food Code is FDA's guidance and recommendations to state and territorial agencies that license and inspect retail food establishments in the United States and can serve as a model for them. Many restaurants and retail food establishments already follow HACCP principles, some because their local regulators mandate it.

And, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it will propose HACCP for the meat and poultry industry. (USDA regulates meat and poultry; FDA all other foods.)

"This system — though it is simple and based on common sense — signals one of the broadest food safety policy shifts in the last 50 years," said FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler, M.D.

Old vs. New

Traditionally, industry and regulators have depended on spot- checks of manufacturing conditions and random sampling of final products to ensure safe food. This system is seen as more reactive than preventive because it finds problems after they have occurred rather than as the food is being prepared.

HACCP, on the other hand, focuses on problem prevention. Companies analyze their food production processes and determine the "critical control points." These are points in a food's production- -from its raw state through processing and shipping to consumption by the consumer — at which hazards can be prevented, controlled or eliminated.

At Heinz USA in Pittsburgh, for example, there are several critical control points on the "capper," the machine that places caps on baby food jars. One potential hazard is broken glass. Even though the machine can automatically detect the presence of broken glass, employees stop the line and inspect the machine every half hour for broken glass. This checking is a preventive measure. It helps ensure that glass does not get into the baby food.

Cooking, chilling, sanitizing, preventing cross contamination, and employee hygiene are other examples of critical control points.

What HACCP doesn't do is replace basic sanitation and good manufacturing practices that are a part of today's food safety system, noted Jeffery Rhodehamel, a microbiologist in FDA's division of HACCP programs. "HACCP works in concert with them," he said.

HACCP Close Up

As it does at Heinz, a HACCP program typically involves seven steps:

• Analyze hazards. Potential hazards associated with food are identified. The hazard could be biological (such as a microbe), chemical (such as mercury), or physical (such as broken glass or metal). Also, establish preventive measures to control identified hazards.
• Identify critical control points.
• Establish critical limits for each preventive measure associated with a critical control point. An example for cooked food might include setting the minimum cooking temperature and time required to ensure a safe product. The temperature and time are the critical limits.
• Establish procedures to monitor the control points. Such procedures might include determining how and by whom cooking time and temperature should be monitored.
• Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical limit has not been met. Examples are reprocessing or disposing of food if the minimum cooking temperature is not met.
• Establish effective record keeping to document the HACCP system. At Heinz USA in Pittsburgh, record keeping is computerized.
• Establish procedures to verify the system is working consistently — for example, auditing records to confirm that all critical limits have been met during a production run.

Each of these steps has to be based on sound scientific and technical knowledge, such as published microbiological studies.

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Tags: Food Safety

About the Author

FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.