Guidebook GUIDEBOOK FOR THE PREPARATION OF HACCP PLANS Introduction On July 25, 1996, the Food Safety and Inspection Service(FSIS)of the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) published a final rule on Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point(HACCP) Systems(PR/HACCP). The PR/HACCP rule requires meat ind poultry plants under Federal inspection to take responsibility for, among other things, reducing the contamination of meat and poultry products with disease-causing(pathogenic bacteria. Reducing contamination with pathogenic bacteria is a key factor in reducing the number of deaths and illnesses linked to meat and poultry products. The Preamble to the final rule describes an overall system in which preventive and corrective measures are instituted at each stage of the food production process where food safety hazards could occur The HACCP requirements that plants must meet are set out in 9 CFR Part 417. HACCP is a scientific system for process control that has long been used in food production to prevent problems by applying controls at points in a food production process where hazards could be controlled, reduced or eliminated. a plant must have an effective HACCP system to comply with regulatory requirements and prevent adulteration of product The HACCP regulatory requirements become effective on different dates for plants of differing sizes Large plants-those with 500 or more employees-on January 26, 1998; Smaller plants- those with fewer than 500 but at least 10 employees on January 25, 1999; and Very small plants-those with fewer than 10 employees or annual sales less than $2.5 million on January 25, 2000 Note: This Guidebook and other fsis technical assistance materials are designed to assist different from the various explanations of HACCP developed by the National Advisor e s/iotse establishments subject to the regulatory requirements of 9 CFR Part 417 in complying with th requirements. Part 417 is reproduced in Appendix A. These regulatory requirements ar Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods(NACMCF), the most recent version of which was published in 1997 Developing a haCCP Plan FSIS is providing this Guidebook for the Preparation of HACCP Plans to help plants develop and set up their HACCP systems. There are other FSiS publications, which may be helpful. This Guidebook is the most basic of the FSIS materials. FSIS has also developed thirteen generic models that plants can use to see if their specific plans are generally on target or help them get started. The generic models are more specific than this guidebook and each one has at least one fully developed product example which establishment HACCP teams can study. However,evenGuidebook GUIDEBOOK FOR THE PREPARATION OF HACCP PLANS Introduction On July 25, 1996, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a final rule on Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems (PR/HACCP). The PR/HACCP rule requires meat and poultry plants under Federal inspection to take responsibility for, among other things, reducing the contamination of meat and poultry products with disease-causing (pathogenic) bacteria. Reducing contamination with pathogenic bacteria is a key factor in reducing the number of deaths and illnesses linked to meat and poultry products. The Preamble to the final rule describes an overall system in which preventive and corrective measures are instituted at each stage of the food production process where food safety hazards could occur. The HACCP requirements that plants must meet are set out in 9 CFR Part 417. HACCP is a scientific system for process control that has long been used in food production to prevent problems by applying controls at points in a food production process where hazards could be controlled, reduced or eliminated. A plant must have an effective HACCP system to comply with regulatory requirements and prevent adulteration of product. The HACCP regulatory requirements become effective on different dates for plants of differing sizes: Large plants – those with 500 or more employees – on January 26, 1998; Smaller plants – those with fewer than 500 but at least 10 employees on January 25, 1999; and Very small plants – those with fewer than 10 employees or annual sales less than $2.5 million – on January 25, 2000. Note: This Guidebook and other FSIS technical assistance materials are designed to assist establishments subject to the regulatory requirements of 9 CFR Part 417 in complying with those requirements. Part 417 is reproduced in Appendix A. These regulatory requirements are slightly different from the various explanations of HACCP developed by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), the most recent version of which was published in 1997. Developing a HACCP Plan FSIS is providing this Guidebook for the Preparation of HACCP Plans to help plants develop and set up their HACCP systems. There are other FSIS publications, which may be helpful. This Guidebook is the most basic of the FSIS materials. FSIS has also developed thirteen generic models that plants can use to see if their specific plans are generally on target or help them get started. The generic models are more specific than this Guidebook and each one has at least one fully developed product example which establishment HACCP teams can study. However, even 3