[AIB GMPs] A Foundation for Food Safety and HACCP

What is a safe product? Food safety reviews normally begin with this question. A safe product is not contaminated and will not harm or injure the consumer. Any product that will directly or indirectly lead to injury, sickness or death is considered contaminated and, therefore, unsafe. GMPs and other regulations throughout the world are enforced to protect the food supply. But how do food facilities meet the requirements?

Safe food cannot be produced effectively unless every potential hazard is identified and controlled. In order for food facilities to meet the requirements of the GMPs and achieve an effective HACCP program, there are several plant programs that must be in place.

GUIDING DOCUMENTS. AIB International has identified 26 programs that it considers to be prerequisites for establishing the foundation to food safety and HACCP. “The AIB GMP and Prerequisites Guide” provides guidance for food facilities regarding development and maintenance of these Prerequisite Programs. Each identified program has a goal, which provides a specific contribution to the processing environment. Achieving all of them would constitute a sound and acceptable processing environment, which meets the requirements of various laws and regulations.

The guide is a valuable reference tool that can be used to develop Prerequisite programs and then audit and inspect them once implemented. After studying each chapter, examine your facility’s existing program, or develop a new program if one is not currently in place, and implement the lessons learned. Then, use the inspecting and auditing worksheets provided for each chapter to evaluate the effectiveness of your program.

The guide also can be used as a consultation, troubleshooting and assessment tool. The information available in every chapter will help you identify areas for improvement in existing plant programs. Solve ongoing and repetitive problems quickly and easily with the suggestions provided in each chapter.

NOTES ON THE BOOK. This guide contains 26 chapters, which are categorized into four sections. Each chapter provides practical concepts related to the topic that can be applied in any food facility worldwide to achieve an effective program.

Useful forms, exercises, and additional resources are available throughout the guide to enhance the learning experience. In the appendix, an inspecting and auditing worksheet is available for each of the 26 chapters. AIB International encourages users to adapt these assessment tools by adding specific criteria that are relevant to their food facilities.

To further enhance this tool, all of the forms, posters, and inspecting and auditing worksheets included in the guide are available on an interactive Resource CD.

The author is Publication Coordinator, AIB International.