What Is a Critical Control Point (CCP)? A Guide for Food Producers

Imagine you are in-charge of food safety risks within a production facility. You just received notification of multiple cases of salmonella that stemmed back to raw chicken that was distributed from your warehouse. Now, people are highly sick with salmonella poisoning, your brand reputation took a massive hit, and you’ve lost a major contract. 

How could this have been prevented? If your business implemented critical control points (CCPs) like temperature monitoring, you may have realized the chicken was not stored at an acceptable level due to a refrigerator malfunction. So, what exactly are CCPs? And how can your food business implement them properly? Here’s everything you need to know. 

What Is a Critical Control Point?

A critical control point (CCP) is a key component in food production focused on the prevention, elimination or reduction of significant food safety hazards. This process commonly requires stringent monitoring and integrating control measures that mitigate risk of any biological, chemical or physical hazards that could pose a threat to consumer health and brand reputation. 

CCP identification allows food manufacturers to strategically optimize their operations by pinpointing identified hazards and establishing targeted interventions. Common examples of CCPs include checking temperature levels during cooking, monitoring storage conditions and implementing sanitation protocols. 

These preventive measures reduce the risk of potential hazards, promote a culture of continued improvement and innovation in food processing safety, and protect the company and customers by maintaining the highest food safety standards. 

Benefits of Identifying Critical Control Points 

Identifying CCPs offers a variety of strategic advantages for food manufacturers seeking to maintain a high product quality and keep consumers safe from hazardous foods. These benefits include: 

• Reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses: By doing a risk assessment to identify and address hazards at every stage of the food production process, your food is much less likely to be exposed to the microorganisms that cause illness.
• Less risk of recalls, lawsuits or reputation damage: With better food handling measures in place, your business will also face fewer problems that occur as a result of food safety issues.
• Strengthening consumer confidence: Taking measures to ensure safety results in customer loyalty and a positive reputation.
• A culture of continuous improvement: CCPs encourage businesses to continually refine their processes, fostering employees to prioritize innovation and continued process optimization. 
• Compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations: Your business will have a much easier time complying with FDA regulations if you create a standard food safety management system, using well-thought-out standard operating procedures and record-keeping processes to help reduce significant hazards related to food preparation, your business will be more 

Examples of CCPs for Food Safety

Effective CCP implementation requires actions to be taken at various stages of the food production lifecycle — from managing temperatures to storage and hygiene protocols — in an effort to prevent contamination and ensure food safety. Common examples of CCPs include:

• Food purchasing: Source your raw materials from reputable food industry suppliers, and ensure certification criteria is being met to drastically reduce the risk of hazards in the supply chain.
• Product delivery: Once goods are received, another core CCP involves thorough packaging and temperature log inspections to affirm that all items abide by set safety protocols.
• Effective food product storage: Storing all items under controlled and monitored facilities prevents microbial growth and cross-contamination. 
• Proper food production: Meeting proper cooking and cooling times and sanitizing equipment between tasks reduce the spread of pathogens. 
• Safe food displays: Food display and serving stations should be frequently reviewed to ensure hot or cold foods are kept at safe temperature ranges. 
• Production equipment and environment cleanliness: Frequently cleaning your cooking water, manufacturing equipment and facilities keeps surfaces free from harmful bacteria and other biological hazards or allergens. 
• Proper and frequent staff training: Robust staff education hygiene protocols, storage requirements and temperature standards, to name a few, reinforces proper food handling techniques at every step of your processes, limiting risk and meeting public health laws.

7 Steps of the HACCP Program

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is a detailed, science-based framework crafted to identify, evaluate and control food safety hazards throughout every stage of food production. The steps and principles of HACCP include:

1. The first HACCP process step starts with an in-depth hazard analysis to identify all physical, biological or chemical hazards and their level of severity and likelihood. 
2. CCPs are identified for each specific step in which interventions can effectively prevent or mitigate hazards to maintain safety. 
3. For each CCP, critical limits like temperature and pH thresholds are created to establish consistent standards. 
4. Monitoring procedures are then established to strategically and systematically monitor adherence to these limits. 
5. The subsequent step involves creating detailed corrective actions that give specifics on how to respond whenever a deviation occurs. 
6. Next, set up verification procedures to confirm that the hazard analysis and critical control points are functioning as planned.
7. Creating detailed documentation keeps a clear record of every step, holding your HACCP team accountable while promoting a culture of transparency.

Following all seven steps of the HACCP plan keeps consumers safe while encouraging continuous improvement in regard to food safety.

What Establishing CCPs Looks Like

Suppose a poultry producer, such as Tyson Foods, is seeking ways to ensure the safety of its food service products throughout the production lifecycle. The initial step is performing a hazard analysis to identify risks such as Salmonella contamination or improper storage containers temperatures. This assessment will dictate the various CCPs the company needs for all necessary workflows. 

For example, critical CCPs in this instance would include:

• Inspecting inbound raw chicken to make sure the supplier’s handling practices and temperature controls are effectively documented and accurate.
• Throughout the chilling and storage phase, temperature limits are established to prevent growth of bacteria. 
• On the production line, thorough cooking is an integral CCP. Pathogens are destroyed by requiring internal temperatures to reach and stay at a specific threshold (for example, at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit). Quality assurance teams frequently monitor these CCPs, using calibrated thermometers and automated systems to ensure accuracy. If temperatures are higher or lower than the set limit, immediate corrective actions such as extending cooking time or throwing out the affected batch are taken.

The organization can effectively safeguard its finished product to maintain both quality control and consumer confidence by implementing and abiding by these strict protocols.

How to Use a CMMS to Help Manage CCPs

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) like Coast can be instrumental in managing CCPs by organizing, verifying, scheduling and tracking necessary tasks. Key benefits include: 

• Equipment maintenance and inspection scheduling: Automate routine inspections and preventive maintenance tasks to make sure CCPs are never skipped and that equipment stays compliant with food safety regulations.
• Real-time equipment monitoring: Track temperature gauges, pressure levels and other key indicators, and get notifications immediately when issues arise. 
• Advanced analytics: Coast’s centralized maintenance dashboard collects real-time data to help decision-makers in refining their food safety processes. 
• Simplified documentation within an intuitive platform: CCPs require thorough documentation to be implemented effectively. With Coast, any team member can access procedural documents from the field via their phone or tablet when performing inspections, repairs or corrective actions. 

Don’t wait to refine your CCP processes with a simplified maintenance software platform. Book a demo with Coast today!