Every food business (except primary production) must have a food safety management system based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points; APPCC in Spanish). Its principles, in plain words:
- Identify the hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced.
- Identify the critical control points: the steps where control is essential (for example, cooking or the cold room).
- Set critical limits (for example, a temperature) that separate what is acceptable from what is not.
- Monitor those points.
- Set corrective actions for when something goes out of control.
- Check regularly that everything works.
- Keep documents and records suited to the nature and size of the business.
A small bar does not need the same as a factory: the regulation takes the size of the business into account, and each sector's guides to good hygiene practice help businesses comply. Food handler training is also part of the system: the business plans what training each job needs, supervises how you work and corrects bad practice.
Your part
- Follow the plan's instructions: temperatures, cleaning, receiving deliveries, allergens.
- Fill in the records assigned to you truthfully: cold room temperatures, cleaning, frying oil…
- If a value is outside the limit, apply the planned corrective action and tell your manager.
In practiceIn the morning you record the cold room temperature and it reads 9 °C, above the plan's
limit. Do not write down a «good» value: record the real one, do what the plan says (check the door, move the product, report it) and
tell someone. An honest record protects the customer and protects you.
Source: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (consolidated text), Articles 5, 7 and 8 · AESAN, guidance document on food handler training (2010, in Spanish)