Food Safety, Hygiene and Sanitation
Food safety covers the systems that prevent biological, chemical and physical hazards from reaching the consumer. The exam tests HACCP logic, GMP and GHP, personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitation, pest control, allergen control and the FSSAI regulatory framework.
Core rules
- HACCP has seven principles: hazard analysis, CCP identification, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and record keeping.
- A CCP is a step where control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a significant hazard to an acceptable level. A control point is not necessarily a CCP.
- GHP covers premises, water, waste, pest control, personnel health and hygiene. GMP covers facilities, equipment and process controls.
- Cleaning removes soil; sanitation reduces microorganisms. Both require the correct concentration, contact time, temperature and mechanical action.
- CIP cleans product-contact surfaces in place; COP requires dismantling and manual cleaning.
Worked example
Milk pasteurization is set as a CCP at 72 °C for 15 s. If the temperature recorder shows 69 °C, the milk is diverted or held and reprocessed, the deviation is recorded, the cause is corrected and the batch is verified before release. The reasoning is that the critical limit was not met, so the product cannot be assumed safe.
Traps
- Treating HACCP as a zero-risk guarantee.
- Marking every step as a CCP.
- Ignoring sanitizer contact time or concentration.
- Overlooking cross-contamination from hands, tools and drains.
- Forgetting allergen changeover cleaning.