Effectiveness and performance of HACCP-based programs

Since the early 1990's, HACCP-based programs are being implemented as a means of preventing food hazards in fish and seafood products. From an engineering perspective, a system designed to control a manufacturing process is expected to result in final product that consistently meet requirements. Although audits are used to verify program implementation, there is a need for some product monitoring to measure the effectiveness and performance of the control systems. This paper discusses the need to monitor final product in seafood HACCP-based programs to measure effectiveness from a systems approach. Information time series of audits and inspections conducted are shown to be more indicative of program performance than snapshot inspections of the final product. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.