Hazard Analysis for Food Businesses

The Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 require food businesses to examine their own operations and to identify the controls necessary to protect the safety of food.

Undertaking a hazard analysis as part of your HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) is a legal requirement for all food businesses.  You must also provide this analysis in writing.

The requirement is broken up in to 7 individual requirements:

1. The operations must be analysed for all potential food hazards.
2. Identify the points of the operation where the hazards can cause problems.
3. Decide which of the points identified (there may be many) are critical to protecting food safety.
4. Thinking of and putting in to practice suitable controls at the critical points. Control measures must be monitored.
5. The analysis must be reviewed periodically to make sure nothing has changed in your operations.
6. You must prove that your HACCP plan is working (verification)
7. Keep records of all of the above (documentation)

More information on hazard analysis and HACCP management systems can be found on the Food Standards Agency's website:

• Safer Food Better Business
• CookSafe
• Safe Catering

More information on food safety and related topics is available from the CIEH Shop.

Traceability in the Food Chain

Part of your Hazard Analysis will include the requirement for traceability. That is, you must be able to demonstrate where food used in your business comes from and where it goes (if you don't sell it to the final consumer). This is so that any unsafe food can quickly be removed from the food chain.

Further information on traceability can be found on the following websites (which open in new windows):

• Food Standards Agency
• Europa
• Food Manufacture

Food Incidents

Part of your food safety management system will be to have the means in place to deal with food incidents.

According to the Food Standards Agency a food incident is " . . .is an event where there are concerns about actual or suspected threats to the safety or quality of food that could require intervention to protect consumers’ interests".

Such incidents could include:

• contaminated ingredients (remember the problems with Sudan Red food colourings a few years ago)
• bacterial contamination (Salmonella in Cadbury's chocolate)
• products containing unexpected allergens (eg the label does not state that the product may contain traces of nut or dairy material etc).

Due to a food incident, it may be necessary to withdraw affected products and/or inform the public about them. The Food Standards Agency have produced useful information on their website on the subject. Click here for a link to their website or on Principles for preventing and responding to food incidents for a copy of their guidance document.

Updated October 2008