Food Safety, Hygiene, Quality Assurance and Food Standards
Domain 5 covers food safety, hygiene, quality assurance and standards. The exam tests the legal framework, HACCP logic and the difference between mandatory and voluntary marks.
Core rules
- The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 consolidated food law in India; FSSAI operates under it, with regulations from 2011 covering standards, additives, labelling and licensing.
- FSSAI registration or licence is compulsory for food businesses according to size and activity; importing and large manufacturing need central licensing.
- HACCP has seven principles: hazard analysis, CCP determination, critical limits, monitoring, corrective action, verification and record-keeping.
- GMP covers facilities and process controls; GHP covers personal and operational hygiene.
- BIS certification and AGMARK are voluntary quality marks in many contexts, though BIS is mandatory for specified products; FSSAI compliance is mandatory.
- Codex Alimentarius provides international reference standards; ISO 22000 is a food safety management system standard.
Worked example
For a milk plant, pasteurisation is a CCP. Hazard: survival of vegetative pathogens. Critical limit: 72°C for 15 s. Monitoring: continuous chart recorder plus periodic verification. Corrective action: divert or re-pasteurise the affected milk and record the deviation. Verification: calibration, microbiological checks and record review. The reasoning is that a CCP must be measurable at the step where a significant hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced.
Traps
- Thinking HACCP guarantees zero risk; it manages identified significant hazards.
- Making every step a CCP; only steps with a controllable significant hazard qualify.
- Confusing voluntary AGMARK/BIS marks with mandatory FSSAI compliance.
- Writing a corrective action that does not address the affected product.