The 7 HACCP principles explained with an example
The 7 HACCP principles are the fixed steps you use to control food safety hazards: analyse the hazards, identify critical points, set critical limits, measure, act, check whether it works, and record everything. They come from the Codex Alimentarius of the FAO and WHO and are set out in Article 5 of EU food hygiene Regulation 852/2004 . The NVWA (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) checks whether you apply them.
This page explains each principle with one running example: a lunchroom that makes its own chicken soup. If you first want to know what HACCP means in general, read what is HACCP.
Are you working with an approved hygiene code? Then your sector has already worked out the principles for you. You apply them rather than devising them yourself.
The 7 HACCP principles in one table
| No. | Principle | Key question | In the lunchroom |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carry out a hazard analysis | What could go wrong? | Bacteria in raw chicken |
| 2 | Identify critical control points (CCPs) | Where must control really be right? | Cooking and cooling the soup |
| 3 | Set critical limits | What is acceptable, what is not? | Minimum core temperature when cooking |
| 4 | Set up monitoring | How do you measure it? | Measuring the core temperature of each pan |
| 5 | Determine corrective actions | What do you do when it goes wrong? | Cook longer, or throw it away |
| 6 | Verification | Does the system work? | Calibrating the thermometer, checking the lists |
| 7 | Documentation and records | Can you prove it? | Temperature log next to the pans |
Preparation: the five steps before the principles
The Codex describes twelve steps. The first five are preparation, and the seven principles follow them. The FAO toolbox sets them out.
| Step | What you do | Lunchroom |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Form a HACCP team | Decide who writes the plan | Owner and head chef |
| 2. Describe the product | Ingredients, storage, shelf life | Chicken soup, 2 days shelf life when chilled |
| 3. Intended use | Who it is for, how it is eaten | Served hot to guests, including older people |
| 4. Draw a process flow diagram | All steps from purchase to serving | Receiving, cooling, cooking, chilling, reheating, serving |
| 5. Check the diagram on the floor | Does it match what happens in practice? | The head chef follows the process for a morning |
Principle 1: hazard analysis in HACCP
You look at each process step and identify the hazards that could occur. These can be microbiological, chemical or physical hazards, plus allergens. You then assess the likelihood and severity of each hazard.
In the lunchroom, the biggest hazard is Salmonella and Campylobacter in raw chicken. A second hazard is bacterial growth if the soup cools too slowly. Allergens also matter: the stock contains celery. For a systematic approach, see the page on hazard analysis in HACCP.
Principle 2: identify critical control points (CCPs)
A critical control point (CCP) is a step where you must control a hazard, because no later step will solve it. Not every step is a CCP. You manage cleaning and handwashing through basic prerequisites.
In the lunchroom, cooking and chilling are the CCPs. Cooking kills the bacteria, and rapid chilling stops any surviving spores from growing. Not sure whether a step is critical? Use the CCP decision tree.
Principle 3: set critical limits
A critical limit is the measurable line between safe and unsafe. It is usually a temperature, a time or a combination of the two. The regulation does not always require a number: a visual check can also be a limit.
The lunchroom sets a minimum core temperature for cooking and a maximum time for chilling down to fridge temperature. Chilled storage is at 7 °C or below, and hot holding is at 60 °C or above. These two values are set out in Article 15 of the Dutch Food Preparation and Treatment Decree (Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen). For cooking and cooling times, take the values from your hygiene code.
Principle 4: monitoring the CCPs
Monitoring means measuring whether you stay within the critical limit, at a fixed moment and by a fixed person. Who measures, when, and with which instrument?
In the lunchroom, the cook measures the core temperature of each pan of soup with a digital probe thermometer. During chilling, he records the time and temperature at the start and at the end.
Principle 5: corrective actions
You decide in advance what to do when a measurement falls outside the critical limit. That way nobody has to improvise in the moment.
| Deviation | Action | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Core temperature too low | Keep cooking and measure again | Cook |
| Chilling takes too long | Throw the soup away and record the cause | Head chef |
| Thermometer is off | Replace it and review that day’s measurements | Owner |
Principle 6: verification of the HACCP system
Verification is checking your checks. Do the measures really work, and are they carried out as intended?
The owner of the lunchroom reviews the temperature logs every week and signs them off. Every month he checks the thermometer in boiling water and ice water. After a new recipe or a new fridge, he runs through the hazard analysis again. Article 5 requires you to review the procedure when the product or the process changes.
Principle 7: documentation and records
You record how you apply HACCP and what you measure. Under the regulation, these documents must suit the nature and size of your business. A small lunchroom does not need a thick handbook.
What the lunchroom keeps: the HACCP plan or hygiene code, the temperature logs, the list of deviations and the staff instruction list. To see what such a plan looks like on paper, see the HACCP plan example.
Principles 3 and 4 lead to the critical limits, which you work out per product group on critical limits in HACCP. Principle 6 raises the question of when to adjust the system, covered on when to update your HACCP plan. Principle 7 covers how long to keep records, see how long to keep HACCP records.
Common mistakes with the 7 HACCP principles
- Too many CCPs. If everything is critical, nobody pays attention to what really matters. Manage hygiene with basic prerequisites.
- Critical limits without action. A measurement outside the limit with no recorded action is a breach in the eyes of the NVWA.
- Filling in lists afterwards. Completed lists with the same temperature every time, in the same handwriting, stand out.
- No verification. A thermometer that is two degrees off makes all your measurements worthless.