Food Safety

The ultimate responsibility for food safety at the retail level lies with retail and food

service operators and their ability to develop and maintain effective food safety

management systems. The goal of this Manual is to provide you with a practical,

HACCP-based approach to evaluate industry’s active managerial control of foodborne

illness risk factors. It is essential that regulatory program managers design an

inspection program based on HACCP principles that guides and supports their field staff

in assisting operators with incorporating these principles into their routine activities.

Since food safety management systems are designed by retail and food service

operators to best meet their own needs, you will need to use a risk-based methodology

during your inspections to uncover the systems being used and to evaluate their

effectiveness.

Regardless of the resource limitations you may have, you can still use the principles of

HACCP to guide your inspections. Many of you already have the technical food safety

knowledge needed to effectively use a HACCP approach.

For the purposes of this discussion, “hazards” are defined as the specific biological,

chemical, or physical properties or agents that, if uncontrolled, may lead to illness or

injury. Risk factors are the poor conditions, procedures, or practices that result in outof-

control food safety hazards. As stated in Chapter 1, risk factors include –

•

Food from Unsafe Sources

•

Inadequate Cooking

•

Improper Holding Temperature

•

Contaminated Equipment• Poor Personal Hygiene