The 12 Steps of HACCP: Simplified

Posted 5 years ago

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic approach to food safety that helps businesses identify, evaluate, and control hazards in food production. This internationally recognised system is essential for preventing contamination, ensuring compliance with food safety laws, and maintaining consumer trust.

In this guide, we break down the 12 steps of HACCP, explaining how they contribute to a structured food safety management system that protects both businesses and consumers.

What Is HACCP and Why Is It Important?

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a proactive food safety system that prevents, eliminates, or reduces hazards before they occur. Unlike traditional inspection methods, it identifies risks at every stage of food production, processing, and distribution.

Developed in the 1960s by NASA and Pillsbury for space missions, HACCP is now a legal requirement in many countries, including the UK (FSA), the EU (Regulation 852/2004), and the US (FDA, USDA).

HACCP helps prevent foodborne illnesses, ensures legal compliance, and protects business reputations by reducing recalls and customer complaints. It also improves efficiency by streamlining processes and enhancing staff training. More than just a legal necessity, HACCP is a best-practice system that ensures food is safe from production to consumption.

What are the 12 Steps of HACCP?

The 12 steps of HACCP form a structured framework for identifying, preventing, and controlling food safety hazards. By following these steps, businesses can systematically assess risks, implement necessary controls, and maintain compliance with food safety regulations.

Successful implementation requires input from multiple departments, ongoing monitoring, and detailed documentation to ensure food remains safe at every stage of production and distribution. Each step builds upon the previous one, creating a proactive approach that helps prevent contamination, protect consumers, and maintain industry standards.

Step 1: Create a HACCP Team

A dedicated HACCP team is essential for implementing and maintaining a food safety system. This team oversees all 12 steps, ensuring hazards are identified, controlled, and monitored. It should include individuals from different areas of the business to provide a well-rounded understanding of processes and risks.

Each member should have HACCP Level 2 training, covering hazard identification and food safety principles. At least one member should have Level 3 training for deeper risk assessment and verification expertise.

A well-rounded HACCP team typically includes:

Production staff – Insight into daily operations and food handling risks.
Quality assurance personnel – Ensuring compliance with food safety regulations.
Maintenance/engineering staff – Assessing equipment-related hazards.
Senior management – Providing resources and company-wide support.
Procurement/supply chain representatives – Evaluating ingredient sourcing and supplier compliance.

Clearly defining roles and ensuring effective communication are key to success. Regular training, meetings, and audits help keep the team updated on food safety regulations and best practices.

Step 2: Describe Your products and ingredients

A detailed description of each product and its ingredients is essential for identifying potential hazards and ensuring food safety. Documenting key characteristics helps assess risks from raw materials, processing methods, and storage conditions, making it easier to implement effective controls.

For each product, record the following:

Product name – Clearly distinguish it from others in your range.
Ingredients – List all components, including additives and processing aids.
Processing methods – Outline steps like cooking, freezing, or fermenting.
Preservation methods – Specify techniques such as refrigeration or pasteurisation.
Packaging & storage – Detail packaging type and required storage conditions.
Shelf life – Indicate how long the product remains safe under proper storage.
Allergen information – Identify allergens per legal labelling requirements.
Legal compliance – Ensure adherence to food safety and labelling regulations.
Target consumer – Define the intended audience (e.g., general public, children, vulnerable groups).

For businesses with large product ranges, similar items can be grouped (e.g., “raw poultry” instead of listing each type separately) to simplify documentation.

A well-documented product description supports hazard identification, regulatory compliance, and traceability, laying the groundwork for an effective HACCP plan.

Step 3: Identify and record who might be at risk

To ensure food safety, identify who will consume your products and whether any groups are at greater risk. Vulnerable individuals, such as young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems, are more susceptible to foodborne illnesses. Understanding how a product is used helps assess risks and implement safeguards.

Key actions:

Determine product use – Will it be cooked, reheated, consumed raw, or used as an ingredient? For non-food items, consider their interaction with food.
Identify consumers – Is the product intended for the general public or specific groups like hospital patients, infants, or those with dietary restrictions?
Assess safety risks – Identify points where the product could become unsafe (e.g., improper storage, cross-contamination, incorrect handling).
Implement safeguards – Use clear allergen labelling, cooking/storage instructions, and warnings for high-risk foods (e.g., “not suitable for pregnant women”).

By proactively assessing risks, businesses can enhance food safety, meet regulations, and protect consumers.

Step 4: Create a Flow Chart For the Life Cycle Of Food Products

A flowchart maps the food product’s journey from raw ingredient receipt to final consumption, helping to identify potential hazards at each stage. This visual tool enables the HACCP team to implement control measures and maintain safety.

At a minimum, the flowchart should include:

Raw ingredient receipt – Document delivery, quality checks, temperature, and supplier certifications to ensure safety.
Ingredient storage – Specify storage conditions (e.g., fridges, freezers) and temperature controls to prevent contamination.
Temperature controls – Identify critical temperature points during storage, cooking, or transportation to eliminate pathogens.
Food handling – Record all points where the food is touched (e.g., preparation, mixing, packaging) to ensure hygiene and prevent cross-contamination.
Temperature-sensitive food risks – Highlight any steps where temperature-controlled foods could be exposed to unsafe conditions, such as improper storage or delays during unloading.

A clear flowchart helps spot potential hazards, guides training and supports audits, ensuring food safety measures are consistently followed. By addressing critical control points (CCPs), you can minimise risks and uphold quality standards.

Step 5: Confirm Your Flowchart is Correct

Once your flowchart is created, it’s crucial to verify that it accurately reflects the actual processes in your facility. This step involves physically walking through the production process to ensure that the flowchart aligns with real-world operations, ensuring no steps or hazards are missed.

To confirm the flowchart’s accuracy:

Walk through the process – Observe each stage of production to ensure it matches the flowchart. Check that raw materials are received, stored, handled, processed, and packaged as documented.
Ensure correct procedures – Watch the tasks in real-time, verifying that controls, temperature management, hygiene practices, and safety protocols are being followed.
Talk to workers across shifts – Communicate with staff from different shifts to ensure consistency throughout the day and night, identifying any gaps during shift changes.
Review and update – If discrepancies are found, revise the flowchart to reflect the changes in procedures, equipment, or staff.

Verifying the flowchart is not a one-off task but part of ongoing monitoring. It ensures that the HACCP system is up-to-date, effective, and a true reflection of actual practices, reducing risks and maintaining food safety compliance.

Step 6: Analyse Potential Hazards

Identifying and analysing potential hazards is key to the HACCP process. At each stage of production, various hazards may arise, including biological, chemical, physical, or allergenic risks. Assessing and prioritising these hazards ensures that the most significant risks are addressed first.

To analyse potential hazards:

Identify hazards at each stage – Use the flowchart to review every step, from receiving raw ingredients to the final product. List potential hazards like contamination, improper temperature control, allergens, chemical residues, or microbial growth.
Categorise hazards – Group hazards into categories for easier management, such as:
1. Biological (e.g., bacteria, viruses)
2. Chemical (e.g., pesticides, cleaning agents)
3. Physical (e.g., metal shards, glass)
4. Allergenic (e.g., peanuts, shellfish)
Assess risks – Prioritise hazards based on their severity and likelihood of causing harm. For instance, biological hazards like E. coli are more critical than minor physical hazards like broken packaging.
Implement control measures – For each hazard, determine control measures to prevent or reduce risk, such as temperature management, hygiene practices, or protective equipment like metal detectors.
Document controls – Record the hazard analysis and control measures in your HACCP plan, ensuring staff can easily access and follow the procedures.

By systematically addressing potential hazards, you minimise risks before they escalate. This step is crucial for maintaining food safety and regulatory compliance.

Step 7: Determine where Critical Control Points (CCPs) are needed

Critical Control Points (CCPs) are stages in the production process where control is essential to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level. Identifying these points is key to managing food safety risks effectively. A structured approach, such as using a Decision Tree, is the best way to determine where CCPs are required.

A Decision Tree is a flowchart that guides you through yes-or-no questions to assess if a specific hazard requires control at a given stage. By answering these questions, you can decide whether a hazard needs to be controlled via a CCP or can be managed with standard procedures.

To identify CCPs:

Use a Decision Tree – Typical questions in a Decision Tree include:
Is the hazard significant enough to impact food safety?
Can the hazard be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level?
Can the hazard be monitored effectively at this stage?
Is the control measure critical for food safety?
Review each hazard – Apply the Decision Tree to hazards at every stage of production to determine which steps are critical for controlling risks.
Be selective with CCPs – Don’t identify too many CCPs. Each one adds complexity with increased monitoring and documentation. Focus on the points most critical to food safety.
Document your findings – Record the CCPs in your HACCP plan, detailing the hazard, control measure, and how the CCP will be monitored and verified.

By identifying the correct CCPs, you can focus efforts on the most crucial stages of food safety. This structured approach helps maintain a streamlined HACCP system that controls risks without adding unnecessary complexity.

Step 8: Set Critical Limits

Critical Limits (CLs) are the defined boundaries that indicate the acceptable range for a specific control measure at each Critical Control Point (CCP). These limits act as safety thresholds, if they are exceeded, immediate corrective action is needed to prevent food from becoming unsafe. Setting clear, measurable Critical Limits is essential to maintaining food safety throughout production.

To set Critical Limits effectively:

Establish firm minimum or maximum values – For each CCP, determine the specific threshold that must not be exceeded or fall short of. For example, set a maximum temperature for cooking or a minimum time for pasteurisation. Immediate corrective action is needed if the limit is breached to ensure safety.
Link limits to control measures – Critical Limits must directly correspond to the control measures for each CCP. For instance, if controlling a hazard via temperature, set a maximum temperature (e.g., 85°C for cooking). If controlling pH levels, set a range (e.g., 4.5–5.5 to prevent microbial growth).
Make limits measurable – Critical Limits should be quantifiable so they can be monitored. These might include:
Temperature (e.g., cooking or storage temperature)
Time (e.g., minimum cooking time)
pH level (e.g., acidity)
Moisture level (e.g., for shelf stability)
Salt or sugar content (e.g., concentration for preservation)
Ensure real-time results – The method for measuring Critical Limits should provide immediate feedback, enabling quick corrective action. For example, use thermometers with instant readings or pH meters that offer real-time data.
Establish corrective actions – When a Critical Limit is exceeded, predefined corrective actions must be in place. These may include adjusting temperatures, reprocessing, or discarding non-compliant batches. Ensure these actions are documented in your HACCP plan for immediate implementation.

By setting clear, measurable, and realistic Critical Limits, you can effectively control each CCP. Monitoring these limits closely and acting swiftly when breaches occur ensures high food safety standards and regulatory compliance.

Step 9: Monitor CCPs and Critical Limits

Monitoring your Critical Control Points (CCPs) and Critical Limits (CLs) is essential to ensure your food safety system functions effectively and hazards are controlled. A robust monitoring system helps track whether control measures are being followed and enables immediate corrective actions when needed.

To implement an effective monitoring system, follow these best practices:

Ensure continuous monitoring – The system should track CCPs and Critical Limits continuously or at appropriate intervals. Consistent monitoring is vital to prevent deviations from acceptable levels that could compromise food safety.
Record detailed results – Document every reading or measurement, including the date, time, and specific values. These records provide evidence that the food safety system is being adhered to and help identify any patterns or emerging issues.
Detect deviations from target levels – The monitoring system should be sensitive enough to quickly identify when control measures are not met. This includes detecting temperature drops, pH levels outside the required range, or insufficient processing times.
Evaluate control effectiveness – Regular monitoring not only ensures safety protocols are followed but also helps assess how well control measures work. Data collected can reveal recurring issues, signalling where improvements or adjustments are needed.
Trigger corrective actions immediately – Quick response to deviations is key. Real-time data allows you to address breaches immediately, whether by adjusting temperatures, halting production, or reprocessing non-compliant food.
Review and update CCPs regularly – Continuous monitoring will highlight areas where CCPs or control methods need reviewing. If certain measures aren’t achieving desired results or new risks arise, update your processes to maintain food safety.
Use calibrated equipment and trained staff – Ensure that the monitoring system uses calibrated equipment for accurate, reliable measurements. Staff responsible for monitoring should be well-trained to carry out their tasks with precision and understand the significance of any deviations.

An effective monitoring system ensures food safety standards are met and provides data to support ongoing improvements to your HACCP plan. By keeping track of CCPs and Critical Limits, you maintain control over food safety, ensuring compliance with regulations and protecting consumer health.

Step 10: Establish corrective actions

When a Critical Limit is breached, it’s vital to act swiftly and effectively to regain control of the food safety process. Predefined corrective actions ensure everyone knows the steps to take, helping prevent unsafe products from reaching consumers. These actions must be clearly documented, communicated, and consistently followed.

To establish effective corrective actions, follow these guidelines:

Define specific corrective actions – Each procedure should clearly outline the necessary steps when a Critical Limit is exceeded. For example, if a cooking temperature exceeds the limit, corrective actions might involve reprocessing or discarding the affected batch.
Determine when processes must be halted – If a breach poses a significant food safety risk, production may need to stop immediately. It should be clear who has the authority to halt production and what the criteria for restarting are after corrective actions are implemented.
Communicate effectively – Ensure all relevant personnel are notified when a Critical Limit is breached. A list of those to be informed should be included in the procedure to avoid confusion about responsibilities.
Decide what to do with affected food – Determine how to handle food affected by a Critical Limit breach, whether that involves discarding, isolating for inspection, or reprocessing. Clear guidelines should manage the affected food.
Investigate the root cause – Corrective actions should not only address the immediate issue but also investigate the cause of the breach to prevent recurrence. This might involve checking equipment, reviewing processes, or identifying training gaps.
Document corrective actions – All actions taken must be carefully recorded. This includes details about the breach, the resolution steps, the people involved, and any further preventative measures. Documentation ensures transparency and helps resolve issues comprehensively.
Clarify roles and responsibilities – Ensure everyone involved understands their role in the corrective action process, whether it’s halting production, investigating causes, or communicating with other team members.

By having a clear, structured approach to corrective actions, you can respond effectively to deviations in your food safety system, managing risks and maintaining the integrity of your HACCP plan.

Step 11: Do an audit of the HACCP system

Regular audits are essential to ensure the HACCP system remains effective, current, and compliant with food safety standards. Audits help confirm that all control measures are functioning as intended and identify areas for improvement.

The HACCP system should be audited at least once a year and whenever significant changes occur, such as:

Updates to processes, equipment, or ingredients
Identification of new hazards
Incidents or food safety breaches

Who Should Conduct the Audit?

To maintain objectivity, the person conducting the audit should not be involved in implementing corrective procedures. The auditor should:

Have a solid understanding of HACCP principles and regulatory requirements
Be able to critically assess the system’s effectiveness
Identify gaps, inefficiencies, or non-compliance issues
Provide actionable recommendations for improvement

What Should the Audit Cover?

A thorough HACCP audit should verify:

That the HACCP plan is still relevant and up to date
Effective monitoring of Critical Control Points (CCPs) and Critical Limits
Correct implementation of corrective actions
Accuracy and completeness of documentation and records
That staff training is up-to-date and aligned with current procedures

Post-Audit Actions

Any necessary updates or changes identified during the audit should be:

Communicated to the HACCP team for implementation
Documented thoroughly for future reference
Reviewed for effectiveness to confirm corrective actions are working

Regular HACCP audits strengthen food safety management, reduce risks, and ensure compliance with industry standards, providing confidence that food products are consistently safe for consumers.

Step 12: Keep Records

Accurate and detailed record-keeping is the foundation of a successful HACCP system. Proper documentation ensures that each step of the plan is followed, verifies the effectiveness of control measures, and serves as proof of compliance during audits or inspections.

To maintain thorough records, document the following aspects of your HACCP plan:

Hazard analysis — Keep a record of all identified hazards, assessments, and the reasoning behind prioritising each risk.
Critical Control Points (CCPs) — Document each CCP, including its location, monitoring process, and its role in food safety.
Training records — Record all training activities for the HACCP team and food handlers, including dates, topics covered, and certifications obtained.
Corrective actions — Log all corrective actions taken, specifying what triggered the action, the resolution, and the person responsible.
Critical Limits and Monitoring — Clearly outline each Critical Limit, monitoring methods, and the frequency of checks.
Cleaning schedules — Document cleaning activities, including what was cleaned, frequency, and cleaning agents used.
Pest control reports — Record pest control measures, including inspections, treatments, and follow-up actions.
Supplier lists — Maintain an up-to-date list of approved suppliers, including contact information and certifications.
Prerequisite procedures — Document supporting programs like Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and quality assurance protocols.

These records serve multiple functions: supporting the HACCP plan, confirming the effectiveness of control measures, and providing proof of due diligence during regulatory reviews. Regularly maintaining and reviewing these records fosters accountability, upholds food safety standards, and ensures preparedness for audits or inspections.

Stay Compliant and Informed with Our HACCP Training

Our CPD Accredited Level 2 HACCP Training is essential for all employees in the food industry. This course will cover an introduction to HACCP, the law and contamination as well as the 12 steps of HACCP and what is involved in implementing them at your workplace.

We also offer a Level 3 HACCP Training course that’s been designed for supervisors, managers or business owners to help them successfully implement and monitor HACCP systems in the workplace and work towards compliance with legislation.

Get in touch with us today to find out more about these courses, or why not get started with a free trial today?