Chapter 10, Food Safety Management Systems

Question 1

Food Safety Management System

Answer 1

Group of programs, procedures, and measures designed to prevent food-borne illness by actively controlling risks and hazards throughout the flow of food.

Question 2

Active Managerial Control

Answer 2

Food safety management system designed to prevent food-borne illness by addressing the five most common risk factors identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Question 3

HACCP

Answer 3

Food safety management system based on the idea that if significant biological, chemical, or physical hazards are identified at specific points within a product’s flow through the operation, they can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to safe levels.
HACCP: Hazard. Analysis. Critical. Control. Point.

Question 4

HACCP Plan

Answer 4

Written document based on HACCP principles describing procedures a particular operation will follow to ensure the safety of food served.

Question 5

Critical Control Points

Answer 5

(CCPs) In a HACCP system, the points in the process where you can intervene to prevent, eliminate, or reduce identified hazards to safe levels.

Question 6

Imminent Health Hazard

Answer 6

A significant threat or danger to health that requires immediate correction or closure to prevent injury.

Question 7

HACCP Principles 1-7 (with examples)

Answer 7

1. ) Conduct a hazard analysis
2. ) Determine critical control points (CCPs)
3. ) Establish critical limits
4. ) Establish monitoring procedures
5. ) Identify corrective actions
6. ) Verify that the system works
7. ) Establish procedures for record keeping and documentation

Example 1: Management team analyzes health hazards, team notes that many of their dishes were received, stored, prepared, cooked, and served on the same day, and their most popular item is a chicken dish, so they determined that bacteria were the most likely hazard to food.
Example 2: After analysis, the team identified cooking as the CCP, including chicken breast. Correct cooking is the only step in the flow of food that will eliminate or reduce bacteria to safe levels. Because the chicken is prepared for immediate service, cooking was the only CCP identified.
Example 3: A critical limit is now needed for cooking. Management decided that the critical limit would be cooking the chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 165 F (74 C) for 15 seconds. They determined that this critical limit could be met by cooking chicken in the broiler for 16 minutes.
Example 4.) For their monitoring procedure, the team decided to check the critical limit by inserting a clean and sanitized thermocouple probe into the thickest part of each chicken breast. The cook must check the temperature of each chicken breast after cooking and each breast must reach the critical limit.
Example 5.) If the chicken breast has not reached its critical limit within the 16 minute cook time, the cook must keep cooking the chicken breast until it has reached it. This and all other corrective actions are noted in the temperature log.
Example 6.) The team performs HACCP checks once per shift, making sure all critical limits were met and corrective actions were taken when needed. They also check temperature logs weekly to take note of trends to adjust procedures. They noticed that it was taking longer to reach the critical limit and discovered that they received thicker breasts from a different supplier, and corrected this by working with the supplier to ensure they would be getting the original size breasts by adding a weight check during receiving.
Example 7.) The team determined that time-temperature logs would be kept for 3 months. Receiving invoices would be kept for 60 days, the team used this documentation to support and revise their HACCP plan.

Question 8

How to respond to a food-borne-illness outbreak

Answer 8

A customer calls to report a food-borne illness: Take the complaint seriously and express concern. Do not admit responsibility or accept liability. Ask for contact information, ask about the food that was eaten and when the person became sick, ask for a description of symptoms. Complete a food-borne illness incident report form.

There are similar customer complaints of foodborne illness: Contact the crisis-management team. Identify common food items to determine the potential source of the complaint. Contact the regulatory authority to assist with the investigation if an outbreak is suspected.

The suspected food is still in the operation: Set aside suspected product and identify it to prevent further sale. Include a label with “do not use” and “do not discard”. Log information about the product, including a description, product date, and lot number. The sell-by date and pack size should also be recorded. If possible, obtain samples of the suspected food from the customer.

The suspected outbreak is caused by a sick staff member: Maintain a list of food handlers scheduled at the time of the suspected contamination. Interview them about their health status. Exclude the staff member from the operation following requirements.

The regulatory authority confirms your operation is the source of the outbreak: Cooperate with the regulatory authority to resolve the crisis. Provide appropriate documentation, including temperature logs, HACCP documents, staff files, etc.