training material may be reviewed by a peer group and some of
the organizations may test during or after the training. These
are all good practices and should be followed.
However, in the strict context of the definition for validation, a top-to-bottom validation process has not been completed. Parts of the analysis are conducted after the service was
performed and if a failure occurred in the training process, the
participants should be retrained.
If an outside training organization was used, there may have
not been any tests conducted to ensure that the participants
were competent to use on the job the skills that they learned in
training. These issues do not negate that training should be
properly developed, implemented and maintained. In addition, those professionals involved in training should be aware
that they can always improve their training techniques and materials. Obtaining informal feedback during the training
process is one way to accomplish this.
Food processing conditions are always changing. As a result,
the underlying assumptions for the production of safe food are
changing as well. To meet this challenge, the food safety management system needs to be reevaluated to ensure its effectiveness. The reevaluation may lead to revalidation of some parts
of the system. 4
Potential issues that can trigger a revalidation include:
• System failure. This can occur if there are multiple failures in
the food safety system and the corrective actions either cannot be identified or do not address the root cause of the
failure.
• Process and product changes. There are multiple changes in
processing that can potentially signal a need to revalidate.
These include changes in raw materials, the manufacturing
process or the product formulation. Whenever a product or
process change is made, the HACCP plan should be evalu-
Definitions
The terms validation and verification can be confusing
terms. Part of this confusion may be caused by the way
Codex is currently codified. In the current seven principles
of HACCP, validation is classified as a subset of verification (Principle 6). In 2008, Codex Alimentarius issued a
validation standard that separates the principles of validation from verification. ISO 22000:20051 formally separated
the concepts of validation from verification. The ISO
22000 uses the following for validation, verification and
monitoring:
Verification is conformation through the provision of ob-
jective evidence that specific requirements
have been fulfilled.
Validation is obtaining evidence that control measures
managed by the HACCP plan and by the op-
erational prerequisite programs are capable of
being effective.
Monitoring is conducting a planned sequence of observa-
tions or measurements to assess whether
control measures are operating as intended.
Our technical and customer service
staff averages over 20 years of
experience, ensuring you:
; The right testing protocol,
for your food and feed analysis
; The most cost-effective solution
(only the tests you need)
; A personal commitment to work
in partnership with you
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