HACCP

Codex does not publish a certification standard, so each certification body audits against the Codex principles and a documented set of HACCP certification criteria based on them. The audit usually covers good hygiene practices, the hazard analysis, the critical control points and their limits, monitoring and corrective action, validation and verification, and records, and follows the same pattern of initial audit, surveillance and recertification as management system certification. The certificate should name the criteria used and the products, processes and sites covered. ISAO carries out this certification itself, and also accredits certification bodies to do it. Every certificate ISAO issues, and every certificate issued under ISAO accreditation, is recorded on the public register.

• Good hygiene practices as the foundation: cleaning, pest control, personal hygiene, maintenance and control of suppliers
• A hazard analysis by a team with the right mix of knowledge, based on an accurate flow diagram of the process
• Critical control points where a hazard must be controlled, each with limits shown to be effective
• Monitoring, and a plan for what to do when a limit is not met
• Validation before use and ongoing verification, with review whenever something changes
• Records that show control at every critical point
• A positive food safety culture, led by management

HACCP has no ISO edition. The reference text is the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene (CXC 1-1969). It was revised in 2020, when it was reorganised into two chapters, one on good hygiene practices and one on the HACCP system, and food safety culture was added. A further revision in 2022 added tools for determining critical control points.

• Enter the certificate number or verification code at Verify a certificate, or scan the QR code on the certificate. The record shows the certificate's status today, for example valid, suspended, withdrawn or expired.
• Compare the organisation name, scope and sites on the record with the copy you were given. Check the products, processes and sites named in the scope, and the HACCP criteria the certificate was issued against.
• Check who issued the certificate, as named on the record. Where a certification body accredited by ISAO issued it, the record shows the status of that accreditation and its accreditation number, and says so if the accreditation did not cover HACCP when the certificate was issued.
• If the certificate is not on the register, ISAO cannot confirm it: it may have been issued under another accreditation, or a detail may be wrong. Ask the issuing body, and report a concern if something does not look right.