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.