Embracing HACCP in Food Service and Retail

“Certainly a lot of our most engaged, fully committed clients embrace it. They want it, and they understand what it means for food quality and safety. We also have people on the other end of the spectrum who jump on the bandwagon because everyone else is doing it,” he adds.

For HACCP to yield results, operators must commit and adhere to a well-deliberated process, Gumatz says. They must understand that in retail and food service, HACCP may require businesses to simplify their offerings. For instance, Gumatz’s biggest client offers more than 350 menu items—which can certainly make implementation unwieldy. Furthermore, this segment of the industry poses particular challenges because of its wide variety of products, its types of operations, and its organization sizes. Retailers and food service establishments can range from those with a simple single store to the national chains that operate thousands of facilities across the country.

For larger chains, economy of scale affords them the resources to embrace HACCP early on. For San Diego-based Jack in the Box, HACCP has been part of its food safety program for years, and the company requires all of its food manufacturers to have their own plans in place, explains Ann Marie McNamara, the company’s division vice president of food safety and regulatory compliance. With more than 2,500 restaurants in the chain, Jack in the Box relies on its HACCP program among others to help identify and monitor the preparations of its products.

McNamara explains HACCP is pervasive throughout its restaurant operations and all employees are trained to adhere to its principles and held accountable. “Every job has critical control points associated with it, so we train each employee in the steps important to producing safe food,” she says.

McNamara notes that even though food processing and manufacturing are different from food service and retail, HACCP principles are universally applicable. As long as organizations make the effort to effectively design and adhere to best practices and monitor and verify their processes, they can achieve the desired results regardless of the type of products they make or the size of their operations, she adds.

As food service providers and retailers continue to evolve and broaden their offerings, and as the industry and regulators continue to grapple with a growing number of foodborne illnesses, initiatives such as HACCP will likely gain adopters seeking a proven and effective method of food safety assurance.

Teng is a freelance writer and former interim editor of Food Quality & Safety magazine based in New Jersey. He can be reached at [email protected].