Contents of HACCP Plans

The Food Safety and Inspection Service is publishing this document to ensure that the owners and operators of federally inspected establishments are aware that its hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system regulations require that an HACCP plan be a self- contained document. In particular, the Agency does not view references to good manufacturing practices, or establishment actions in accordance with good manufacturing practices, as satisfying the requirements for the contents of an HACCP plan. Among other things, an HACCP plan must list the critical control points for each food safety hazard reasonably likely to occur in the production process, the critical limits that must be met at each of the critical control points, and the procedures, and frequency with which they will be performed, that will be used to monitor each critical control point to ensure compliance with critical limits and to verify that the plan is being effectively implemented. An HACCP plan also must identify the corrective actions to be followed in response to deviations from critical limits at critical control points.