Intermediate Certificate in Hazard Analysis Principles and Practice

The need to adopt preventative strategies in the preparation of food to ensure its safety has increasingly become the focus of good practice and regulatory requirements. Current regulations require the owners of food businesses to conduct a hazard analysis of their food operations and to implement suitable and sufficient controls to eliminate or at least reduce the risks posed by identified hazards. A number of formal systems of hazard analysis exist e.g. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Assured Safe Catering (ASC). While both these systems have merit they are not appropriate in every situation.

One of the main objectives of the Hazard Analysis: Principles and Practice training programme is to assist proprietors of food businesses to operate more safely and meet the requirements of current legislation by introducing a rational and realistic system of analysis. There are a number of basic steps and principles involved in a hazard analysis system but no matter how 'simple' the system or the operations it may cover it can only be effective if the personnel concerned:

• understand the principles
• have experience of the working environment or activity
• appreciate the need to develop realistic controls
• understand the importance of monitoring and periodic review

The training time to cover the syllabus areas must be at least 10 hours, typically covered in 2 days. The students then undertake an assessment or assignment.