Every food business in Ireland must have an effective food safety management system. It keeps the food you handle safe to eat, and it helps the business to comply with Irish and EU food hygiene law.

This Level 2 course explains how a food safety management system based on the principles of HACCP works. It takes you through each step of the system, and shows how you can carry out your own work safely and correctly.

By the end of this course, you will:

• Know the main food hygiene law, and why HACCP is a legal requirement.
• Understand the four main types of food safety hazard.
• Know the seven principles of HACCP.
• Understand why prerequisite programmes must be in place before HACCP is applied.
• Understand what is involved in setting up a HACCP system.
• Know how hazards are identified and controlled.
• Understand why the system must be monitored and reviewed.

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. It is an internationally recognised food safety management system that food businesses use to identify, evaluate and control the hazards that pose a significant risk to food safety.

Article 5 of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 states that food business operators must put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on the HACCP principles. The type of HACCP system needed depends on the size and nature of the business.

It is your employer’s duty to put the HACCP system in place, but everyone in the food business is responsible for maintaining it.

• Managers and supervisors must make sure that good practice is followed at all times.
• Food handlers must follow the procedures and instructions laid down by their employer.
• Everyone must report problems, such as a fridge running warm or a damaged delivery, straight away.

A HACCP system only works when every member of the team plays their part, on every shift.

HACCP was developed in the 1960s to make sure that food for the first manned space missions was safe before astronauts ate it. Until then, food safety relied mainly on testing samples after the food was made, which was too late to prevent harm.

HACCP takes a preventative approach. It looks at what could go wrong at each stage of the process, and puts controls in place before problems occur.

In the 1990s, the Codex Alimentarius Commission set out the international definition of a HACCP system. After serious food safety incidents in Europe, HACCP-based procedures became a legal requirement for all EU food businesses, including those in Ireland.

Before going further, make sure you understand these terms:

• Food safety management system: documented procedures setting out what the business must do to make sure its food is safe to eat.
• Food safety: handling, preparing, cooking and storing food so that it is protected from anything that could harm the consumer.
• Food hygiene: controlling harmful bacteria through safe cooking, chilling and cleaning, and by avoiding contamination.
• Contamination: the presence of any objectionable or harmful substance or material in food, whether biological, chemical, physical or allergenic.

• Hazard: anything with the potential to cause harm to the consumer.
• Risk: the likelihood that a hazard will cause harm, and how serious that harm could be.
• Hazard analysis: collecting and evaluating information on every procedure and process that could harm the consumer, including biological, chemical, physical and allergenic hazards.
• Control measure: an action that eliminates or prevents a food safety hazard, or reduces it to an acceptable level.
• Critical control point, or CCP: a stage where control is essential to eliminate a hazard or reduce it to a safe level. A critical limit is set, and if it is breached, corrective action must be taken immediately.

All food businesses in Ireland are covered by Irish and EU food law, including:

• Regulation (EC) 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs. This EU regulation applies directly in Ireland. It sets the basic hygiene rules for all food businesses, and requires procedures based on HACCP.
• The Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act 1998. This set up the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, or FSAI, as the body responsible for the enforcement of food safety law in Ireland.

It is an offence to place food on the market that is unsafe, or that does not comply with food law.

Regulation 852/2004 controls the hygiene standards of the food premises, the food equipment, and the food handlers and their training. It also requires all food business operators to:

• Put in place, implement and maintain food safety procedures based on the principles of HACCP.
• Make sure that the people who develop and manage those procedures are adequately trained.

As an EU member state, Ireland applies this requirement in full. It is a permanent legal duty for every Irish food business.

As well as keeping the business within the law, a good HACCP system helps the business to:

• Prevent food safety incidents, and protect public health.
• Avoid enforcement action and prosecution.
• Avoid costly product recalls.
• Reduce food waste, because less stock has to be reworked or thrown away.
• Build a right first time approach in the kitchen.
• Protect its reputation, and increase customer confidence.
• Reduce complaints.

Compliance with the law is the first reason for having a HACCP system, but it is far from the only one. A robust system protects public health by preventing costly food safety incidents before they happen. Because problems are caught at the critical points, the business avoids enforcement action, prosecution and Closure Orders, and it is much less likely to face an expensive product recall. Less stock has to be destroyed when something goes wrong, so food waste falls and money is saved.

Over time, a well-run system builds a right first time culture, in which staff expect to get each step correct rather than fixing mistakes later. Customers notice the difference. Complaints go down, confidence goes up, and the reputation of the business is protected. A business that can show its HACCP records is also demonstrating, to inspectors and customers alike, a real commitment to food safety, which supports better overall performance.

In Ireland, the FSAI is responsible for the enforcement of food law. It works through official agencies, mainly the Health Service Executive, or HSE, whose Environmental Health Officers, or EHOs, inspect most food businesses. Other agencies include the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority.

Authorised officers can:

• Inspect food premises, and take samples for testing.
• Investigate complaints, and cases of food poisoning.
• Give advice and guidance, and take enforcement action where needed.

In Ireland, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Health Service Executive protect public health through the enforcement of food law, and they appoint Environmental Health Officers and other authorised officers to do this work across the country. Their role is wider than inspection alone. Officers make sure that food businesses, managers and employees understand how to produce safe food and how to comply with Irish and EU food safety law.

They carry out food hygiene inspections, and they sample food from businesses for microbiological testing to check that it is safe to eat. They investigate complaints from the public about food and food premises. When there are cases, or suspected cases, of food poisoning, they investigate them and give advice on infection control and on preventing further outbreaks. They also provide advice, guidance and support to help businesses achieve compliance. Enforcement action is used where it is needed, but the aim throughout is safe food.

When a business breaks food law, authorised officers can take formal action:

• An Improvement Notice, or a Compliance Notice, sets out the breach, what must be done to put it right, and the time allowed. If it is ignored, the District Court can make an Improvement Order.
• A Closure Order requires the immediate closure of all or part of the premises, or the stopping of an activity, where there is a serious risk to public health.
• A Prohibition Order stops the sale or distribution of a product.

A Closure Order is lifted only when the officer is satisfied. Closure Orders are published by the FSAI, and ignoring one is an offence.

A Closure Order is the most serious enforcement action a food business can face. In Ireland, it is served under the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act 1998, or under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020, when there is a serious risk to public health. It can require the immediate closure of all or part of the premises, or the stopping of a specific activity.

The order is lifted only when the premises has improved to the satisfaction of the authorised officer. Even then, the damage does not end. Closure Orders remain listed on the FSAI website for three months from the date the order is lifted, and enforcement actions are often reported in the media, which can cause significant and lasting harm to the reputation of the business. It is a criminal offence to operate in breach of a Closure Order, or to ignore other enforcement action.

Failing to comply with food law can lead to prosecution. Cases are heard in the District Court, or for serious offences, in the Circuit Court. The courts can impose fines and prison sentences.

A civil court may also award compensation to anyone who suffers illness or loss. Enforcement orders are published by the FSAI and reported in the media, which can cause lasting damage to the reputation of the business.