“A new, but very scary word,” jokes popular Chef Yevhen Klopotenko commenting the HACCP abbreviation. It means Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and it is an instrument of food safety recognized in the entire world.
There is actually nothing scary about HACCP. But there is one scary thing. For example, if you Google “Schoolers got food poisoning at the school’s canteen”, you will find a long list of disheartening examples from different parts of Ukraine. Well, the HACCP is designed to keep that from happening.
Improvement of the Food Safety Control System in Ukraine or the EU4SaferFood project financed by the EU is helping introduce the instrument, in particular at the learning institutions.
Among other things, the project is fighting the myths – and there are many of them around the system and the process of its introduction. The myths about it being unclear and involving a lot of red tape are just a couple examples. In order to dispel with myths around the learning institutions using HACCP, EU4SaferFood made a video, in which Yevhen Klopotenko turns the “scary” requirements for the implementation of HACCP in schools and kindergartens into simple and clear components.
“HACCP is a chain consisting of several main links,” says the chef. “You only need to make everything safe at each link and then the children will be healthy and well fed.”
The first stage is accepting raw materials. It is important to understand where they come from, who produced them, how they were delivered and whether the temperature regime was observed, etc. Also, you need to check the products visually and check documents on them.
The second stage is storing the products. In terms of HACCP, it is important to understand that there are two options – “ideally”, and “sufficient minimum”.
For example, ideally, there should be refrigerators separates for milk products, meat, vegetables and fish. However, there is another option. You can have two freezing compartments: one for fish and the other one for meat, and two cooling compartments: separate ones for vegetables and milk products.
The third stage is about ensuring safe food flows.
Ideally, you need a separate room to work with meat, and another one – with fish, and a third one – with milk products.
“However, if that is not possible, everything can be done in one place,” explained the chef. “You work with meat, then sterilize the surface, and then you do the same for fish and milk products. It has long become customary to sign the kitchen boards and knives in the kitchens and use them separately for meat, fish and vegetables.”
In other words, the products should ‘meet’ at the stage of cooking or thermal processing, but there are several ways to ensure the HACCP principle.
The last critically important stage is the technological process and hygiene.
At this stage, you need to comply with the requirements for the right cooking. For example, you can be confident about the safety of meat if it is cooked for a specific period of time, in accordance with the technological map. Semi-finished products and ingredients must be marked, specifying who made them, at what time and the expiry date. And of course, you need to wash hands, be healthy and have regular health check-ups.
“HACCP is just about logic and common sense,” emphasizes Yevhen Klopotenko. “Well, that and you don’t have to worry about being inspected by the State Consumer Service.”
Starting from September 2019, introduction of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points is mandatory for all players of the food products market. It also applies to schools and kindergartens.
In addition to the explanatory video by Chef Klopotenko, the EU4SaferFood project together with the Ministry of Economy held a webinar for the heads and founders of the learning institutions at the end of October 2021.
The webinar discussed introduction of the HAACP at the dining halls of institutions and the specifics of enforcement of the food laws for public catering, in particular which regulatory documents must be read in order to avoid wasting money and time, how to keep records, etc.
Sources
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