[Food Safety] Team HACCP Needs You

Pest management professionals must partner with food industry clients to help them ensure product safety and protect public health.
 

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system is a proactive methodology developed for the food industry to protect food from potential contamination. Designed to meet the standards set by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Code of Federal Regulations, this risk management tool focuses on hazards that may affect food safety and is used to address food safety issues. The system is relevant to all sectors of the food industry, including producers, manufacturers, processors and food service operators who want to comply with food safety legislation requirements.

HACCP BASICS. HACCP is a proactive strategy that calls for a preventive approach to pest control vs. the reactive approach of knocking down numbers once they reach unacceptable levels. The methodology, which deals with microbiological, chemical and physical hazards, is designed to identify potential food safety hazards, implement control programs or elimination steps for these hazards, and provide for ongoing management of these controls. These efforts include conducting a hazard analysis and identifying critical control points during a product’s production and shipping processes when the potential hazards can be controlled or eliminated. A HACCP team is also assembled to ensure that certain prerequisite programs are created and implemented. Prerequisite programs, such as pest control, outline the policies and procedures that act as the control for potential food safety threats.

First, an in-depth analysis of all sources of hazards is performed. It is designed to determine critical points at which a control can be applied to eliminate them. Control resources are then assigned to those points to reduce risk to an insignificant level. This analysis also establishes critical control limits at critical points during the production process. While pest management is not a critical control point itself, it serves as the means of controlling and monitoring critical control points in terms of inspections; utilizing tools such as insect traps, rodent traps and exterior rodent bait stations; and sanitation and exclusion techniques. The results of the analysis are incorporated in a HACCP plan, which periodically must be re-evaluated to confirm that it results in safe food production. In addition to establishing monitoring requirements of critical control points, efforts also include initiating corrective actions to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical limit has been reached or exceeded.

CRITICAL PARTNERSHIPS. Pest management professionals need to act as consultants and partners to the food industry. Pests, such as mice, cockroaches and flies, have the ability to transfer pathogens of food-borne illnesses. Our responsibility to our clients is to ensure that these pests do not have the opportunity to introduce these pathogens where they can threaten consumers. That’s why pest management is important throughout the entire food process. We must advise our clients on proper pest prevention, the use of monitoring devices and procedures for all potential pests, and the appropriate elimination methods. Most importantly, we must have accurate documentation.

We should train our clients on basic pest management and take part in the HACCP team’s discussions, providing constructive advice on pest management. Additionally, we must agree with customers about working times, types of materials to be used, our customers’ expectations from our service and our expectations of our customer. We need to effectively advise our clients about the potential danger to their products that could arise from the pest management operation. We must implement Integrated Pest Management techniques when servicing such facilities to minimize any potential risk. PMPs can use monitoring data to target control measures and make adjustments based on the results of the pest control program. Monitoring provides numerical data that can be analyzed for trends and compared to previous results.

Opportunities for contamination must also be minimized before products enter the building and upon exiting. It is our responsibility to educate our clients about IPM methods such as exclusion, sanitation and environmental modifications to aid in this endeavor. For example, we must make certain that when a product is being shipped, contaminants such as bird droppings do not affect it. We should also advise our clients that when deliveries are made to their facility, a member of their staff needs to inspect all packages or ingredients to ensure that pests are not entering with them.

The pest control contractor must provide specific legal documents required by HACCP. They must supply their customer with a written report of any pest control activities undertaken on the premises and written recommendations of actions required to solve pest-related problems. A logbook should be present at the site and should contain all relevant information, such as:

• Written service reports (record of inspections, findings of activity, action taken due to findings, sanitation and structural deficiencies, recommendations to resolve deficiencies, chemical usage report, frequency of device checks and cleanings)

• Schematic map of all equipment and monitoring devices

• Labels and MSDS sheets for all approved chemicals to be used

• Copy of technician’s license and other required forms (business license, insurance documents, etc.)

A member of the facility management should be assigned to regularly review pest control records and consult with their PMP. Additionally, the PMP should report to the responsible manager before and following visits to the premises. An exit meeting should take place to review the findings of the visit. All occurrences of pests within the building or within the site perimeter and the actions taken should be immediately reported to that manager.

In addition to pest management techniques, our personnel should be properly trained in food hygiene, good management practices and HACCP protocols. When properly utilized, HACCP assures the safety of the product and protects the health of the consumer.

The author is quality control manager for Waltham Services, based in Waltham, Mass. She holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology and management and a master’s degree in entomology. E-mail her at jdacey@giemedia.com.