Development of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) procedures to control organic chemical hazards in the agricultural production of raw food commodities

Hazard Analysis by Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic approach to the identification, assessment and control of hazards in the food chain. Effective HACCP requires the consideration of all possible hazards, i.e., chemical, microbiological and physical. However, current procedures focus primarily upon microbiological and physical hazards, and, to date, chemical aspects of HACCP have received relatively little attention. Consequently, this report discusses the application of HACCP to organic chemical contaminants and the particular problems that are likely to encounter within the agricultural sector. It also presents generic templates for the development of organic chemical contaminant HACCP procedures for selected raw food commodities, i.e., cereal crops, raw meats and milk.