Ingredients
essential for food hygiene
Amitava
Sanyal explores how the Indian food industry is taking on the HACCP
challenge
Out
of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
King Henry IV, William Shakespeare
There
is a plethora of safety codes advising on every aspect of food production
all over the world. And the need for having them has been felt more
acutely too. One of the most important challenges has been battling
the increasing number of new food pathogens. For example, between 1973
and 1988, bacteria not previously recognised as important causes of
food-borne illness – such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella
enteritidis – became more widespread.
But
few of the codes have had such a wide impact on modern food production
as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point). What began as
an initiative at the Natwick US Military Laboratory way back in the
1960s to prevent salmonella infection in food prepared for space flights,
is now a virtual de rigueur of the food industry in the developed economies.
The code – which enshrines a systematic approach to the identification,
evaluation, and control of food safety hazards – has come a long way
from what the Pillsbury Company employed for the first time. The original
set of norms has gone through several revisions in the 1980s and 1990s
and has now been endorsed by the venerable Codex Alimentarius Committee
of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation.
In
a rare move, recently, the 50 largest international supermarket chains
– collectively accounting for about 65 per cent of world food retail
revenue – have announced a set of guidelines for use by their suppliers
while sourcing and processing. This ‘Global Food Safety Initiative’,
chaired by Dutch retailer Royal Ahold, is demanding conformity to some
strictly defined standards. Among the four existing standards that the
group finds relevant is HACCP (the Dutch flavour). No wonder that more
Indian companies are gunning for HACCP certification nowadays.
Not
only that. All signatories to the relevant agreements at the World Trade
Organisation – India included – need to conform to HACCP.
Thus,
in recent times, several medium and large food companies in India have
gone ahead and got themselves certified – among those are MTR Foods,
Nirula’s, Dabur Real, and Nilgiri Dairy Farm. On the other hand, hospitality
majors like the Taj Group have also taken the lead in earning the HACCP
label (Turn to page 22 for case study). Among the states, Kerala has
taken a lead by opening a national centre for Food Quality Safety Hygiene
Programme certification in Thiruvananthapuram. The centre aims to develop
a team of experts in the design, implementation, audit and certification
of food safety systems. Needless to say, the move has been loudly hailed
by the
industry.
So
what does a company need to do to get the HACCP tag? Once the HACCP
system (See Glossary) is in place, the company approaches a certification
body for registration. Generally, an application form is filled in by
the company, based on which a price quotation is issued by the certification
body. Dates are agreed upon, a manual review is done and an audit conducted
by the certification body. The certificate is valid for three years
and surveillance visits are conducted every 6 months to ensure that
the system is in place. Nilgiri Dairy Farm, which has got certified
for its range of instant mixes, reckons that each half-yearly audit
is more stringent than the earlier one.
Before
approaching a certification body, the company must prepare a HACCP manual
with HACCP plans. Implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
in the processing unit is of utmost importance. Before certification,
the company has to ensure that the requirements of the HACCP standard
are met.
Are
there problems typical for the Indian market? Sharad Hasamnis of Bureau
Veritas Quality International, which claims to have about 25 per cent
of the Indian HACCP certification market, says, “There are several India-specific
problems like issues of pesticide residue in food. As far as the GMP
norms are concerned, I think our people are picking up. However, there
is scope for improvement in this area too.”
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