The Language of the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule

Recently, I sat in a room with 20-some food safety experts eager to learn about the curriculum for the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule. The FDA-recognized curriculum is used as the primary means to call oneself a Preventive Controls Qualified Individual. At the start and at hearing the use of “preventive,” my colleagues and I whipped out our cell phones to look up the existence and meaning of the word. Well, I will tell you it is a word, is chosen for use by FDA, and means the same as “preventative.” Out loud, say to yourself, “preventive measures.” Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Preventive is not the only new word to the rule. The terms of HARPC, still in its infant stage, and its older siblings of HACCP, CCPs, and critical limits are fading into the sunset. If you are a food safety expert who has grown up on the use of HACCP and CCPs, don’t worry. FDA is not making you use the new language. There is still room for use of HACCP and CCPs when identifying process preventive controls. After all, processing is where much of the highest risk in food safety is controlled. Water is removed to prevent growth of mold and production of harmful toxins. Heat is used in pasteurization, canning and baking to kill pathogens. We use metal detectors. The youth in our business will label these process preventive controls, not CCPs. The youth will be studying the rule and the language of the rule.

There are three additional labels of preventive controls-allergen, sanitation, and supply chain. We do not apply the terms of HACCP, CCPs or critical limits to preventive controls in these three areas. Your hazard analysis will identify if you need a preventive control in any of these areas. We identify preventive controls for known or reasonably foreseeable hazards, and set parameters and values. Parameters are just the name of the measurement like temperature, time, belt speed or bed depth. Values are the number and corresponding unit which must be achieved for safety like 185oF, 25 minutes, 1 foot per second, or 2 cm.

Another new kid on the block is the term “correction.” We will still issue corrective action when a food safety issue affects finished product. What about when product has not been affected? The wrong label is moved from storage to the packaging line. Get the right label. A post-sanitation inspection observes areas not cleaned properly. Reclean. A correction allows the righting of a wrong at a preventive control step and before any product is affected.

It takes practice to adopt the new language of the rule. As an educator, I encourage you to say the terms out loud. After some time and in our future, we will hear a colleague say, “What’s HACCP?”

Dr. Kathy Knutson has food safety expertise in microbiology, hazard analysis, and risk assessment. As a recovering academic, she resides in Green Bay home-of-the-Packers, Wisconsin with her brilliant husband and two handsome sons. Learn more about her consulting services at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyknutsonphd.