(Official Journal of the European Union, C 278, 30 July 2016)
The purpose of this notice is to facilitate and harmonise the implementation of EU requirements on PRPs and HACCP by providing practical guidance, taking into account the size and nature of the establishment on:
- the link between PRPs and HACCP-based procedures within an food safety management system;
- the implementation of PRPs;
- the implementation of HACCP-based procedures;
- the flexibility provided for certain food establishments, in particular SMEs, by EU legislation related to the implementation of PRPs and HACCP).
What is essentially new to this notice is the OPRPs which is a “new-comer” from ISO 22000. They are presented as an intermediate level of concern, filling the gap between PRPs and CCPs. A semi-quantitative method of Hazard analysis and CCP determination is also present, as an alternative to the classic decision tree approach of the codex alimentarius. The notice document has detailed examples of each step of HACCP planning and implementation, since this was a common demand from stakeholders in the food industry.
The hot topic of flexibility is also present to some extent, giving some definitions and practical examples. Essentially, flexibility is every member state’s task and it should be implemented as such. This notice document is fully exploited in the current BTSF training program on HACCP application and auditing techniques on several EU Commission training sessions of competent authorities across Europe (BTSF on HACCP, phase 2).
