Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Step 4: Establish procedures to monitor CCPs
Food Safety, Sanitation, and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
Monitoring is a planned sequence of observation or measurement to assess whether a CCP is
under control and to produce an accurate record for use in the future verification procedures.
The main purpose of monitoring is
• To track the operation, to monitor any trend and correct any action, and to bring the
process back into control
• To determine if a deviation has occurred and to take corrective action
• To provide written documentation for verification of the plan
A flowchart should be developed for recipe group CCPs. The flowchart can be used to check
all steps to be observed and measured. A loss of control or deviation that has actually occurred
should be documented. Flowcharts can also be developed for the methods used for cooking, such
as roasting, baking, frying, and so forth. At this step, temperature monitoring is critical. Other key
areas to monitor are time, pH level, employee performance, records, and documentation. Preventive
measures include personal hygiene (especially hand washing), separating raw and cooked products
(Cross-contamination), and methods for cleaning and sanitizing the environment and equipment.
The monitoring procedures track the system or process of operation. The monitoring indicates
when the loss of control and deviation have actually occurred. Exhibit 13.2 is an example
that can be used to monitor CCPs for employee behavior, equipment, food, hot holding,
and transporting. The supervisor would fill out this form and initial, noting any needed correction
and what measures were taken to correct any problem. This form is verification of documentation.
The form should reside with the product throughout the process and then be filed
for a specified period of time.
The written documentation is provided. When establishing the monitoring procedures, the
team must establish the interval of the monitoring. Care should be taken to do the monitoring
rapidly with an assignment of responsibility.
Continuous monitoring is preferred when feasible. However, continuous monitoring is not
always feasible due to cost, lack of labor, and the like. The team should establish a monitoring
interval that is reliable enough to indicate that the hazard is under control. The food service
manager should assign responsibility for monitoring, train staff, and do random sampling.
Step 5: Establish the corrective action to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical
limit had been exceeded
Each area in the food production process must be examined for deficiencies. The workplace is
to be reviewed, monitored, and analyzed through food safety audits, environmental monitoring,
and self-inspections to identify CCPs that could lead to a food-borne illness. The first step
is to determine what went wrong, and then appropriate action should be chosen and applied.
A continuous review of the flowcharts, recipes, and procedure manuals will indicate steps for
correction. As the corrections are identified, they should be added to the appropriate documents.
All control points should be reviewed from source to serving. A corrective action plan for
each CCP is then developed. The CCP should be shown to be brought under control as documented
in the HACCP plan. The responsible person should check for breaks in employee
health policies, cross-contamination, temperature controls, thawing, cooling, and reheating.
Whether food should be discarded should be determined. If appropriate, an outside laboratory
can be used to test for microorganisms. Methods should be devised that can be implemented
to immediately correct the problem.
Food service professionals must demonstrate that the problem is under control. An
account of steps taken and follow-up must be documented. The corrections are added to the
flowcharts, procedures, and manuals.
The most important task is to communicate the change(s) to employees. The training
process is ongoing with an HACCP program. Employees must be encouraged to bring hazardous
food operating conditions to the supervisor or manager’s attention for correction.
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