Food hygiene; establishment, implementation and maintenance of a self-monitoring system in accordance with the HACCP concept

This is done by means of a suitable self-monitoring system that is subject to monitoring by the official food control authorities.

The purpose of the in-house controls and measures in accordance with Art. 5 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 is to prevent the development of health hazards due to chemical, biological or physical influences or allergens.

To this end, each business must draw up a concept that serves to identify, assess and avert risks and provide evidence to the competent authority. The documents must be kept up to date and stored (Art. 5 Para. 4 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004. The competent authority takes into account the type and size of the food business.

The concept should comply with the following principles:

• Analysis of hazards in production and work processes
• Determination of the critical control points (CCP) in the process stage(s) where control is necessary to prevent, eliminate or reduce the hazard(s) to an acceptable level
• Establishment of limits for the critical control points
• Determination and implementation of effective monitoring measures for the critical control points
• Determination of corrective measures in the event that monitoring shows that a critical control point is not under control
• Reviewing the hazard analysis, critical points and safety measures at regular intervals
• Obligation to document the procedure that is appropriate to the type and size of the food business

In this context, the principles of the HACCP concept(Hazard Analysisand Critical Control Point) represent one way of practicing preventive health protection. According to the HACCP concept, possible health hazards and the probability of their occurrence must first be determined (hazard analysis). Measures must then be defined on the basis of the results obtained in order to avoid or reduce the risks to human health (Critical Control Point).