With many small businesses feeling the strain financially, the need to diversify has never been greater. Take the plight of the good old British boozer. In recent years pub operators and individual managers have seen the profit in beer sales decline
whilst pubs offering family friendly environments and good quality food are booming. Real ale, a beer garden and steak and chips equals profit!
But finding a new opportunity for potential profit is only half the story. If you run a food business, you must have a plan based on HACCP principles. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a system that was devised to provide quality assurance throughout the food industry by establishing critical monitoring (control) points. It is a requirement of EU food hygiene legislation that applies to all food business operators except farmers and growers.
Using this management system, food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.
The seven principles of HACCP:
- Conduct a hazard analysis - any biological, chemical or physical property that can cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption.
- Determine the critical control points - a point, a step or a procedure in a food manufacture process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level.
- Establish critical limits - limits include time, temperature, humidity, water activity and pH value. The limits should be measurable.
- Monitor and control the CCPs - Monitoring is a planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a critical control point is under control and to produce an accurate record for future use in verification.
- Establish correct actions - an action taken when the results of monitoring at the critical control point indicate that the limit is exceeded.
- Establish verification procedures - includes the calibration of process monitoring instruments at specified intervals, direct observation of monitoring activities, and corrective actions.
- Documenting records and procedures - maintaining proper HACCP records is an essential part of the HACCP system.
Remember, you might be inspected, and the inspector will need to see your records.
More information: https://www.gov.uk/food-safety-hazard-analysis
Selecting the correct thermometer for a food processing application is, by definition, very important to achieve the maximum accuracy and repeatability of the temperature.
Many small outlets have neither the time or money to be buying expensive, over-complicated test equipment.
CUTHBERTSON LAIRD RECOMMENDED PRODUCT
Saf-T-Log® HACCP recording thermometer from ETI
List Price: £120. Delivery: 5 - 6 working days.
Measure, store, download and print HACCP reports. No more paper logs or complicated PDA's to train staff how to use!
The Saf-T-Log includes Windows® software to create a list of up to 300 items that you routinely measure, 10 remedial actions, along with up to 25 users. Each item can include a high/low temperature limit that gives the user instant on-screen pass/fail feedback and gets printed on the report. Once your checklist is created, it can be saved, emailed to other users and uploaded onto any Saf-T-Log.
Record up to 1000 readings by simply scrolling to the correct item and pressing record. Any 'fail' or 'no answer' can prompt the selection of a corrective action. Once readings are taken they can be uploaded to a PC automatically when reconnected.
The data is archived and a report generated automatically with no additional user input. The Saf-T-Log report is locked so the data logged cannot be tampered with.
Housed in a durable, IP66/67 waterproof case with a choice of interchangeable type K thermocouple probes, the Saf-T-Log can be used for a wide variety of applications. The thermometer includes a high contrast backlit display with an accuracy of ±0.4 °C and a calibration trim function.
USB Connection Point
The Saf-T-Log incorporates a USB port which allows the user to connect to a PC.