Food Safety Magazine, August/September 2010

PROCESS CONTROL
By Charles Yoe, Ph.D., and Jurgen G. Schwarz, Ph.D.
Incorporating Defense
into HACCP
Food protection is the integration of food quality, food safety and food defense concerns into a single unified strategic
and operational action plan.1 It keeps
businesses and their customers safe

sion of HACCP and an efficient step toward a more comprehensive approach to food protection. The general concept of HACCDP is presented in Figure 1.

Food manufacturers and processors around the world have embraced the HACCP process as an essential part of their food safety strategy. The scientific basis of the HACCP system has had beneficial effects on food quality as well. Figure 1 shows HACCP as an important part of a firm’s food safety and quality strategy. Less common, but growing in importance, is a food defense plan. A vulnerability assessment is an important part of a food defense plan.

The lower part of Figure 1 shows that a HACCDP system simply combines the vulnerability assessment and the HACCP plan. This article proposes a simple modification of the HACCP process that expands it to include food defense by building on a proven successful approach to food safety.

from contamination of food products.

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system is a prevention-based safety program that identifies and monitors hazards associated with food production before they happen. It is the cornerstone of many businesses’ food safety plans. An overview of the history of HACCP has recently been published in this magazine. 2

Food defense planning has received increased attention in the U.S. since the events of 9/11. The melamine contamination problem in China, as well as the Salmonella contamination at Peanut Corporation of America, although not strictly intentional contaminations, have revealed to the world the nature and extent of our mutual vulnerabilities to intentional contamination of our food supplies.

If firms are to address both unintentional and intentional contamination of their food products, it makes sense to do this in the most efficient manner. Building on and extending the existing HACCP system is the most efficient way to provide comprehensive food protection.

HACCDP, Hazard Analysis Critical Control and Defense Points, is proposed as an exten- Figure 1: Combining HACCP and Food Defense into HACCDP.

HACCP and Small Businesses

The HACCP process has been proven effective as a food safety measure. 3 It is a systematic approach designed to prevent the unintentional contamination of food. The same approach can be taken to analyze a process from the point of view of intentional contamination. Rather than having separate plans for food safety and for food defense, one plan that addresses the CCPs for both safety and defense issues is easier to manage and implement. This is illustrated in the example provided below.

The University of California at Davis Sea Grant Extension Service has developed a number of HACCP examples. 4 A process flow diagram for making a tuna sandwich is presented to illustrate the basic ideas of the proposed HACCDP process (Figure 2). Steps 4 and 5 were identified as CCPs for food safety.