What Is HARPC, And How Does It Compare To HACCP?
26 Apr 2024
If you are a food business that is exporting to the US or considering exporting to the US you may have been asked to develop a HARPC food safety plan. Continue reading the article to discover the principles of HARPC and how it differs from HACCP.
Outlining the Principles of HARPC
When running a successful food business, it's crucial to maintain safety standards and protocols. Thus, both HARPC or the Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls and HACCP or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, act as the guiding principles to maintain safety standards.
The United States Congress has outlined the HARPC system under Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) to execute proper planning regarding food safety. The primary aim of this plan is to prevent all sorts of contamination of food like air-borne, chemical and physical hazards. Therefore, violating such protocols can bring stringent action against you.
Let's discover the types of hazards you must take care of to maintain a safe food supply chain.
- Chemical, physical, biological or radiological hazards.
- Sanitization process followed at restaurants, cafes etc.
- Food allergens
- Pesticides and natural toxins
- Unintentionally and Intentionally introduced hazards
For US-based food companies or companies exporting food to the US, HARPC is a legal requirement.
1. Hazard analysis
2. Performing risk-based preventive systems
3. Periodic monitoring of the system
4. Outlining the corrective measures
5. Introducing verifications measures
6. Documentation and record-keeping
7. Re-evaluating the existing HARPC system after every three years
HARPC vs HACCP: Key Comparisons
HARPC and HACCP, both of similar terminologies, often confuse a food business operator. However, you must know clearly because these two tell a lot about food safety standards and procedures. Let's compare these two, side by side, considering important aspects.
Recap The Key Aspects
Although the underlying principles and objectives of both are similar, they differ mainly in terms of execution.