Integrating hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) and sanitation for verifiable food safety.

Reliable and verifiable food safety programs are becoming more important to foodservice. Evidence indicates that the foodservice industry has been responsible for most of the confirmed foodborne illness outbreaks that have occurred in Western countries (1-4). Because the foodservice is closest to the consumer, blame and suspicion for food safety failures will come to it first, even though the cause of the problem may be earlier in the food manufacturing chain. New hazards such as Escherichia coli 0157:H57 and new methods such as use of adenosine triphosphate soil detection (4) put new requirements on those who are responsible for food safety. Such new developments boost regulatory interest in verifying that those who serve food understand and prevent hazards. Consequences of a food safety failure can be especially severe for institutional foodservice (4). It is not enough for foodservice management to know that good food safety practices are used. There must be evidence - records - that correct sanitation and food-handling procedures are followed.

Demonstrating due diligence in food safety cannot be done on an ad hoc basis. Doing what is customary to clean and sanitize a surface or to cook and hold a menu item does not reflect a considered approach to food safety problems. Food safety must be deliberate. A menu item served is the consequence of a chain of events that starts long before the foodservice first sees the constituent food materials. Hazards may become part of the food materials at many places along the way. To prevent such hazards means understanding the menu-item manufacturing system, identifying the hazards, and controlling the hazards during manufacture. What is required is a system to intentionally prevent these hazards from occurring and to verify this hazard control with record keeping.

From the perspective of foodservice, potential hazards can be divided into two classes: those that are introduced to the food materials in the foodservice (eg, pathogens from an unsanitized utensil) and those that come with the food materials (eg, pathogens on ground beef). Methods to control the first kind of hazard require proper hygiene and proper cleaning and sanitizing of the foodservice equipment and environment. Methods to control the second kind of hazard (if it is biological) require proper holding and proper cooking - essentially proper management of time and temperature of the food materials. Sanitation deals with …