[AIB Up Front] Understanding the Importance of GMPs and Prerequisites in Ensuring Food Safety

Do you understand the importance of the GMPs and prerequisites in ensuring your food safety programs? 

I don’t understand why many food processors claim to have a HACCP program, when they haven’t developed prerequisite and GMP programs to ensure control. A hazard analysis that identifies sanitation programs as adequate control measures, but does not validate the cleaning procedures or the environment of the processing area, does not offer complete assurance.

Often times it seems that food plants assume that if they identify a CCP, then all their support programs will be effective. This is far from the truth. The food industry tends to rely on CCPs and believes they have control without ensuring that prerequisite and GMP programs are in place and validated.

Recently a facility shared with me the science behind a CCP and the kill step in controlling Salmonella. When I visited their facility, they revealed that issues with finished products still arose from time to time. When we reviewed the process, it became apparent that the contamination was not occurring at the kill step, but at cooling and packaging stages. Their cleaning procedures were inadequate and cross-contamination from dust had become an issue.

GMP and prerequisite programs are essential in any food processing environment. AIB has identified 26 key prerequisite programs that we consider prime components to build a foundation of food safety and HACCP. These programs, along with instructions for development, are covered in The AIB GMP and Prerequisites Guide.

The food industry has lost the art of inspection. We create paper programs and assume that they are working, then busy ourselves ensuring that records are updated and auditing the system to meet audit schemes. But, little time is spent on the floor validating that these systems and programs are meeting specifications. While The AIB GMP and Prerequisites Guide will help you develop and update programs, validation of these programs is a continuous process. Programs fail for a number of reasons; and if not monitored and inspected failures can go unnoticed and lead to disaster.

How important are the prerequisites and GMPs? They are critical to the process and need support, management commitment, resources, and time spent on the floor to ensure success.

The author is Vice President of Food Safety Education, AIB International.