What is HACCP? Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic, science-based approach to food safety that identifies potential hazards in the production process and establishes controls to prevent them before they reach the consumer. Rather than relying on end-product testing, HACCP in food safety is fundamentally about is prevention: building safety into every step of the production process.
Originally developed in the late 1950s by Pillsbury Company and NASA engineers for the space program, HACCP was formally adopted by the FDA and USDA in the 1990s and is now a legal requirement for most food manufacturers, meat and poultry processors, and seafood facilities operating in the United States. Understanding what is HACCP and why it is important is foundational for any food safety professional — and for the workers on your plant floor whose daily tasks keep the plant functioning.
What Is HACCP and Why Is It Important?
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, at its core, is a framework for answering one question at every step of production: what could go wrong here, and what are we doing to stop it? Unlike general Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), which set broad hygiene and operational standards, HACCP is specific, documented, and verifiable. It gives regulators, auditors, and your own quality team a written record demonstrating that food safety hazards are actively managed — not discovered after the fact.
What is HACCP important for in practical terms? It’s the backbone of regulatory compliance under FDA’s FSMA preventive controls rules, USDA FSIS requirements for meat and poultry, and third-party food safety certification schemes like SQF and BRC. Losing HACCP compliance doesn’t just risk a nonconformity on your next audit — it can mean product holds, recalls, or facility shutdown. It also directly determines which employees can be assigned to critical control points, which is why skills management and compliance management software are increasingly integrated into food manufacturing operations.
The 7 Principles of HACCP
The seven principles of hazard analysis and critical control points form the complete HACCP framework, as defined by the FDA and the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF). Each principle builds on the last: you can’t establish a critical limit (Principle 3) until you’ve identified your critical control points (Principle 2), and you can’t do that until you’ve completed your hazard analysis (Principle 1).
| # | Principle | What it requires |
| 1 | Conduct a hazard analysis | Identify all biological, chemical, and physical hazards at every step of production — from raw material receipt through finished product distribution — and determine which require a control measure. |
| 2 | Determine the critical control points (CCPs) | Identify the specific steps in the process where a control can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level. |
| 3 | Establish critical limits | Define the measurable maximum and/or minimum values — such as temperature, time, pH, or water activity — that must be maintained at each CCP to ensure the hazard is controlled. |
| 4 | Establish monitoring procedures | Document how and how often each CCP will be measured, who is responsible, and what equipment will be used to verify the process stays within the critical limit. |
| 5 | Establish corrective actions | Define in advance what action must be taken when monitoring reveals that a CCP is out of control — including what happens to affected product and how the process is brought back under control. |
| 6 | Establish verification procedures | Put in place activities beyond routine monitoring — such as periodic calibration, additional testing, or review of records — to confirm the system is working as intended. |
| 7 | Establish record-keeping and documentation | Maintain written records that demonstrate the plan is being followed, including CCP monitoring logs, corrective action records, and verification activities. |
Principle 1: Conduct a Hazard Analysis
The hazard analysis is the foundation of the entire Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plan. Your HACCP team must systematically evaluate each step of the production process — receiving, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, packaging, distribution — and identify every biological (bacterial, viral, parasitic), chemical (allergens, pesticides, cleaning agents), and physical (glass, metal, bone) hazard that is reasonably likely to occur.
For each identified hazard, the team assesses both the severity of the potential harm and the likelihood of occurrence. Hazards that are both significant in severity and reasonably likely to occur without a control measure become the focus of Principle 2.
Principle 2: Determine the Critical Control Points
A critical control point is a step in the process where a control measure can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a significant food safety hazard to an acceptable level, and where no later step will correct the failure if this point is missed. Cooking temperature, metal detection, and pasteurization are classic examples. What makes them critical control points is not just that they control hazards — it’s that failure at these points directly threatens product safety with no downstream safety net.
HACCP teams use a standard CCP decision tree to evaluate whether a step qualifies. A food processor might have as few as one or two critical control points in a simple process, or more than a dozen in a complex multi-step operation. The number is less important than the accuracy of the analysis.
How to Get HACCP Certification
HACCP certification is typically obtained through accredited third-party training programs. The most widely recognized pathway in the United States is through the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA), which offers a standardized curriculum recognized by the FDA. Industry-specific programs are also available through organizations like the International HACCP Alliance. Certification training covers plan development, hazard analysis, CCP identification, and record-keeping requirements, and typically results in a certificate of completion rather than ongoing facility certification — facility-level certification is obtained through schemes like SQF, BRC, or FSSC 22000.
For food manufacturing operations, ensuring that qualified, certified personnel are always assigned to monitor and manage CCPs is as operationally critical as the HACCP plan itself. A plan that exists on paper but isn’t supported by trained, verified staff on every shift is a compliance risk — and a recurring source of audit findings. Indeavor’s workforce management platform connects employee qualification records directly to scheduling, so only certified personnel can be assigned to tasks that require HACCP training.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is HACCP in simple terms?
In simple terms, HACCP is a food safety system that identifies where things could go wrong in food production and puts specific controls in place to prevent those problems before they happen. Instead of testing finished products and hoping for the best, safety is built into the process from the start.
What are the 7 steps of HACCP?
The 7 steps of HACCP are: (1) conduct a hazard analysis, (2) identify critical control points, (3) establish critical limits, (4) establish monitoring procedures, (5) establish corrective actions, (6) establish verification procedures, and (7) establish record-keeping and documentation. The table above covers each in detail.
What are the 5 C’s of food safety?
The 5 C’s of food safety are a simplified framework often used in foodservice training: Clean (wash hands and surfaces), Cook (to the right temperature), Chill (refrigerate properly), Cover (protect food from contamination), and Cross-contaminate (avoid it by keeping raw and ready-to-eat foods separate). They’re a consumer-facing teaching tool, distinct from the seven-principle HACCP framework used in manufacturing.
How to get HACCP certification?
HACCP certification is available through accredited training providers including the FSPCA, the International HACCP Alliance, and various accredited food safety training organizations. Training typically covers the seven principles, how to develop and validate a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plan, and regulatory requirements. Facility-level food safety certification is a separate process through schemes like SQF, BRC, or FSSC 22000.
Managing HACCP compliance across a multi-shift operation requires more than a well-written plan. It requires that the right trained and certified people are on the floor at the right times. Indeavor’s compliance management tools and employee scheduling platform help food manufacturers enforce qualification requirements at the point of scheduling — so CCP tasks are always covered by verified, trained personnel, and your HACCP records are audit-ready by default.
About the Author
Severin Studer is the Revenue Operations Lead for Indeavor. He identifies opportunities to streamline and improve the customer lifecycle, go-to-market strategies, and sales process. He works cross-functionally with departments and stakeholders to share insights, centralize information, and report on various KPIs. To learn more or get in touch, connect with Severin on LinkedIn.
