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Writing and Implementing a School Food Safety ProgramBased on HACCP Principles

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GOALS FOR TODAY

• Understand how to write a HACCP Plan

• Understand the Manual you received.

• Utilizing the forms in the Appendix, begin writing your school/district’s HACCP, or Food Safety Plan.

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Purpose of a Food Safety Plan

• Serving safe food is a critical responsibility for child nutrition programs and a key aspect of a healthy school environment.

• Keeping foods safe is also a vital part of healthy eating and a recommendation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005.

• When properly implemented, food safety programs will help ensure the safety of school meals served to children across the United States.

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HACCP’s Seven Principles1. Identify Hazards

2. Identify Critical Control Points

3. Establish Critical Limits

4. Establish Corrective Actions

5. Establish Monitoring Procedures

6. Establish Verification Procedures

7. Establish Record Keeping Procedures

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Advantages of HACCP

A food safety program based on HACCP

Principles helps to reduce or eliminate

potential food safety hazards and:

• Protects your customers

• Improves control of food processes

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Advantages of HACCP, continued

• Provides a defense against complaints and legal action

• Complies with the law for Child Nutrition Programs

• Provides a process for continuous self-inspection and self-improvement

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A HACCP approach helps to:

• Identify foods and procedures most likely to cause food borne illness

• Develop procedures to reduce the risk of an outbreak

• Monitor processes to keep food safe

• Verify that food served is

consistently safe

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Developing a Food Safety Plan

• Establish a food safety team

• Develop a program description

• Assess and strengthen prerequisite programs

• Assess standard operating procedures

• Develop standard operating procedures

• Determine the food processes for your menu

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Developing a Food Safety Plan, continued

• Establish corrective actions

• Establish monitoring procedures

• Establish verification procedures

• Establish record keeping procedures

• Develop your written plan

• Develop a plan for employee training

• Establish Corrective Actions

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Establish a Food Safety Team

• Elect one person to be “in charge”

• Engage all food service employees– Share ownership– Increase motivation– Employee contributions are important

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Establish a Food Safety Team,Continued

• Team is responsible for

Assessment of current operations

Development of the food service plan

Implementation of the food service plan

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Develop a Program Description

• Collect information needed to write plan– Who is being served

– How is production accomplished

– How do facilities & equipment impact food production and service

– How food is purchased & stored

– See Appendix A – Suggested Content for Program Description

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Assess Current Program

• Need strong foundation

– Assess prerequisite programs

– Prerequisite programs need to be in place before a HACCP based program can be effective.

– See Appendix B – Required Program

Assessment

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Assess Current Program, Continued

• Develop Standard Operating Procedures

• SOPs must be specific to each site and each type of production– What– Why– How– When– WhoSee Appendix C – SOP ChecklistSee Appendix D – Sample Standard Operating Procedures – Pages 16 through 36

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Determine the Food Processes for your Menu

• Categorize menu items

– No Cook Step – No cooking is done, so the menu item does not go through thetemperature danger zone.

– Same Day Service – The menu item takes one complete trip through the temperature danger zone (during cooking) and is served.

– Complex Food Preparation – The menu item goes through both heating and cooling, taking two or more complete trips through the temperature danger zone.

See Appendix E – Menu Worksheet

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Determine the Food Processes for your Menu, continued

Identify what measures need to be taken to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a hazard from occurring.

• Control Measure – Any means taken to prevent, eliminate, or reduce hazards.

• Critical Control Point (CCP) – Operation (practice, preparation step, procedure) to which a preventative or control measure can be applied that would eliminate, prevent, or minimize hazards.

• Critical Limits – The time and/or temperatures that must be achieved or maintained to control a food safety hazard.

• See Page 7 of the Resource CNF/SNA

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Establish Corrective Actions• Preplanned (written) Procedures

– What problems might occur

– What specific action should take place

– Who will be responsible for the action

– Who will document the corrective action steps

See Appendix F – Corrective Action Worksheet

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Establish Monitoring Procedures

• Monitoring is critical• Written documentation

Remember,if it has not been written down,

It has not been done! See Appendix G – Monitoring Procedures Worksheet

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Establish Verification Procedures

• Confirmation that a food safety program is working

• Provides the needed information to

maintain an effective programupdate the program as needed

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Establish Record Keeping Procedures

The record keeping system should be:

• Simple

• Part of the daily/weekly routine

• Accurate

• Comprehensive

• Kept for at least one year (some districts choose to keep them for 3 years as they do other records)

See page 9 of SNA/CNF handouts

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Employee Orientation & Training

• Employee Orientation (new hire)– Food safety concepts– Signed by employee & supervisor– Kept on file

• Ongoing and Progressive

Appendix H, I, J, K

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THE BOTTOM LINE ! !

EVERY STEP, FROM PROCUREMENT TO

CLEAN – UP, MUST BE EVALUATED TO

ENSURE THE FOOD SUPPLY FOR

YOUR CUSTOMERS IS SAFE.