Food Safety, Hygiene and Sanitation (HACCP, GMP)
This domain tests the difference between day-to-day GMP/GHP controls and HACCP's preventive safety system, and your ability to apply the seven HACCP principles to a process flow. In India, the FSS Act 2006 and FSSAI Schedule 4 hygiene requirements are the reference points.
Core rules and concepts
- GMP/GHP covers premises, layout, personnel health and hygiene, potable water, equipment design, pest control, cleaning, storage, transport and traceability.
- HACCP's seven principles: conduct hazard analysis; determine CCPs; set critical limits; monitor; establish corrective actions; verify; keep records.
- A CCP is a step where loss of control creates a significant safety hazard. A control point manages quality or a lower risk.
- Sanitation means cleaning to remove soil, then disinfection to reduce microbes. Sanitizers fail on dirty surfaces.
- Records must be contemporaneous and verifiable through calibration, audits and product testing.
Worked example
Milk pasteurization at 72°C for 15 seconds. Hazards include Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria. The holding tube is a CCP. The critical limit is at least 72°C for at least 15 seconds, monitored by a calibrated recorder and flow-diversion valve. On deviation, divert the product, reprocess or reject it, record the corrective action, and verify recorder calibration.
Traps that cost marks
- HACCP is not end-product testing.
- More CCPs is not better; they must be manageable and genuinely safety-critical.
- “Clean” is not a measurable critical limit; use time, temperature, pH or water activity.
- Verification is not the same as monitoring.
- A hygiene policy on paper does not satisfy GMP without records and practice.