Table 3: Operational prerequisite program (OPRP) management
table as adapted from classical CCP management.
Records
Milk spray drying
Salmonella
Removal, cleaning and reinsertion of
milk spraying nozzles
• Dryer processing area air filtered to 95% removal of 1.0-µm particles
• Gloves are worn by operative to remove nozzles
ATP < 150 RLU
Visual assessment of the removal and reinsertion operation
ATP assessment of the cleaned wand and nozzle
Occasional microbiological verification of wand and nozzle cleaning
• Put on hold any potentially affected product.
• Determine the need for spray dryer to be decontaminated.
• Investigate the cause of the problem and take appropriate action.
• Dryer intervention record including correct observation of
removal and insertion procedure
• Post-decontamination ATP and microbiological records
Process step or area
Likely hazard
Source or contamination
event/vector(s)
Control measure(s)
Taken beyond microbiological hazards,
the same source-and-vector approach may be
used to evaluate and control nonmicrobio-logical hazards, such as allergens or foreign
material. As these are developing concepts,
comments are welcomed as to how they can
be improved. n
Operating limit(s)
Control measure(s)
Control verification(s)
Corrective action(s)
John Holah, Ph.D., is an applied microbiologist working
both in food factories and the laboratory and is responsible for food hygiene at Campden BRI.
Edyta Margas is a hygiene and novel technologies
specialist at Campden BRI.
Robert Hagberg is the director of QA technical services at Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Benjamin Warren, Ph.D., is the director of product
safety & regulatory affairs at Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Judy Fraser-Heaps is the senior manager of QA, microbiology & food safety at Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Sara Mortimore is the vice president of quality & regulatory affairs at Land O’Lakes, Inc.
References
1. www.cdc.gov/print.do?url=http%3A//
www.cdc.gov/salmonella/agona.
2. Jackson, K.A., M. Biggerstaff, M. Tobin-D’Angelo,
D. Sweat, R. Klos, J. Nosari, O. Garrison, E. Boothe, L.
Saathoff-Huber, L. Hainstock and R.P. Fagan. 2011.
Multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes
associated with Mexican-style cheese made from pasteurized milk among pregnant, Hispanic women. J Food
acceptable level, for example, cooking of a meat patty, cooling
of a sauce or running a liquid product through a screen of defined particle size. On the other hand, OPRPs are generally described for procedures or programs that address some aspect of
the processing environment or the interaction of the processing
environment with the process, for example, the manual removal, cleaning and reinsertion of milk spray nozzles into the
spray dryer during a production run.
A Developing Study
The concept of identifying sources and vectors of cross-contamination, assessing their risk and managing their risk through
OPRPs in a fashion similar as CCPs is a developing study.
Elevating the control of sources and vectors to the level of
OPRPs and managing them similar to CCPs focuses attention
on the control of what is thought to be the highest risk of cross-contamination from the processing environment to the product.
Controlling sources and vectors by developing and documenting OPRPs as discussed in this article may provide a means to
demonstrate increased confidence in product safety should a
pathogen be found in the manufacturing environment.
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3. Gaze, R. 2009. HACCP: A practical guide (fourth edition). Campden BRI,
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK.
4. www.codexalimentarius.net.
5. www.mygfsi.com.
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factories: A practical guide. Campden BRI, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK.
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