Evaluation of worldwide approaches to the use of HACCP to control food safety

Hazard Analysis by Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a management tool, developed in the late 1960s, to ensure the safety of foods for space flights. It was subsequently recognised as an effective alternative to conventional end-point-testing by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), amongst others, and recommended for use in commercial food production. HACCP principles are now incorporated in national food safety legislation of many countries, as well as a likely future component of the standardisation of international food quality control and assurance practices. However, governments and food companies have interpreted HACCP differently. This paper describes the basic principles of HACCP, and evaluates its implementation in the European Union, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and in developing countries. The ‘Zurich House of Food-Safety’ approach was identified as the most rigorous (and possibly most effective) interpretation of HACCP, while the Australian food industry approach was identified as the most practical and readily applicable approach to HACCP.