What does the acronym HACCP stand for?

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. This approach is fundamental for ensuring food safety in production processes. The essence of HACCP is to identify potential hazards that could affect food safety, assess the risks associated with those hazards, and establish critical control points to mitigate them. Implementing HACCP allows food establishments to proactively address safety issues, enhancing consumer protection and improving the overall quality of food products.

Understanding this framework is crucial as it provides a systematic way to identify, evaluate, and control food safety hazards, which is especially important in the food industry where contamination can have serious health implications. This prevention-based approach is widely recognized and often required in food safety regulations and standards.