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Understanding the Richardson

as
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OPRP & CCP Director...

Hazards
101: An
If you are a food safety practitioner you will no doubt
Introductory
have heard of and may possibly even be confused by
Guide
the terms PRP, oPRP and CCP.
What is
In this piece, we will attempt to demystify and clarify Food
these terms. Safety
Managemen
You would be familiar with Prerequisite Program (PRP) Software
and Critical Control Point (CCP) which stems from (FSMS)?
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point), a
Food
risk assessment management tool designed by the
Safety
Pillsbury Company in collaboration with NASA in the Alert
1960’s to help identify specific hazards within Update
processes, determine their significance and develop (August

appropriate controls to ensure they do not reach the 2022) by

Safefood
consumer (or astronaut).
360°...
You will have heard the term Operational Prerequisite
Food
Program (oPRP) if your food safety system has been safety
based on the ISO 22000. alert
update
  
During the intervening decades since the “launch” of (July 2022)

HACCP, numerous food safety standards, codes of by

Safefood
practice, and regulatory directives have adopted the
360°
principles of HACCP, and, in the process, put forth their
RISK...
own unique interpretation on how exactly these
Reducing
principles are affected.
Regulatory
and Legal
The purpose of risk assessment Intervention

and management How do

When we speak of HACCP, risk assessment and you lower

the risk of
determination of control measures is an aspect which
Salmonella
many people may find difficult, if not mystifying, on
contaminat
occasion.
Food
To put it simply, the basic principle is to install within safety
the process and operation some control measures alert
which are appropriate for the specific hazards and the update

risk they pose to the final consumer. (June 2022)

by
HACCP requires you to identify these potential hazards Safefood
and then determine the significance of these hazards 360°

by applying risk assessment techniques, the output of RISK...

which is a measure of risk which then allows us to put Summary

in place appropriate control measures, such as PRP, of the UK
oPRP, and CCP. 2021 food
report
Over the decades, various standards have attempted to
Food
define how risk assessment is carried out and how to
safety
determine control measures.
alert
update
In the process they have introduced their own unique
(January –
terms, language, scope, methodology and workflows,
May 2022)
and while some of these have been good, much of this
by
work has served only to confuse people causing HACCP Safefood...
plans which are unnecessarily complex and hinder the
Case Study
effective management of food safety.
of Royal
FrieslandCa
Various standards have attempted to
Gaining
define how risk assessment is carried Global
out and how to determine control Oversight...

measures…only to confuse people Case Study

causing HACCP plans which are : SH Pratt

maintains
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 unnecessarily complex and hinder the BRCGS “AA
grade”...
effective management of food safety
Case
In the context of food safety, the International Study: How
Standards Organisation (ISO) has defined a control Bluegrass
Ingredients
measure as an action or activity that can be used to
Excels with
prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to
Safefood...
an acceptable level.
LGC Assure
This definition is general and can be used to describe Launches
virtually any action, step, activity, job, task, process or New
procedure which has the intention of addressing a food Website

safety hazard. for

Assurance
As we look closer at the main food safety standards we Insights
can see that control measures become categorized.
January
2022 Food

Categories of Control Measures Safety

News and
Critical Control Point (CCP)
Industry
The CCP is perhaps the most commonly known of all Round-up

the control measures, and the ISO defines it as a step at What does
which control can be applied and is essential to prevent 2022 and
or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an the Future
acceptable level. Hold for
Food
This definition is similar to the general definition of a Safety?
control measure, however, a CCP differs as it relates
December
specifically to a step in the process such as cooking,
2021 Food
cooling, or freezing, and not a general activity or action. Safety
News and
a CCP differs from a control measure as Industry
it relates specifically to a step in the Round-up

process, and not a general activity or Rewatch:

action Ask Me
Anything –
ISO also states that a CCP is a step at which control can IFSQN

be applied, which means that if a ‘CCP’ is unable to Food

Safety
apply control, it cannot be considered a CCP.
Live...
In scenarios where control is subjective and cannot be
November
measured accurately, this may be problematic as
2021 Food
control is not able to be enforced. Safety

News
 and

 If a CCP is unable to apply control, it Industry
Round-up
cannot be considered a CCP
Webinar:
Finally, another factor relating to CCP’s is the risk posed Thermal
by the hazard should the control not be exercised. Processing
of Food
For instance, if salmonella were to be present in cooked Safety for
meat, it would pose a significant risk to the consumer if Food
cooking were not carried out to the required Safety...

temperature and time specification. October

2021 Food
In this situation, control is a critical step and is designed
Safety
and enforced specifically to control the hazard.
News and
Industry
Prerequisite Program (PRP) Round-up

Defined by ISO as the basic conditions and activities Watch:

necessary to maintain a hygienic environment Safefood
throughout the food chain which are suitable for the 360° Risk
production, handling and provision of safe end products Product

and safe food for human consumption. Launch

September
There are a wide variety of PRPs depending on the
2021 Food
particular product and process.
Safety
News and
Industry
Round-up

Announcing
Safefood
360° RISK:
A new era

in risk data
tools...
They are often described in certain sectors of the
industry as Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), Good August

Veterinarian Practice (GVP), Good Manufacturing 2021 Food

Safety
Practice (GMP), Good Hygienic Practice (GHP), Good
News and
Production Practice (GPP), Good Distribution Practice
Industry
(GDP), and Good Trading Practice (GTP). Round-up

Examples of PRP’s in a food manufacturing The role

environment would be: and
importance
construction and layout of buildings and associated of
utilities standards

  
 lay-out of premises, including workspace and in modern
food saf...
employee facilities
July 2021
supplies of air, water, energy and other utilities
Food
supporting services, including waste and sewage Safety
disposal News and

the suitability of equipment and its accessibility for Industry

Round-up
cleaning, maintenance and preventative
maintenance BRCGS’
Lessons
management of purchased materials (e.g., raw
from the
materials, ingredients, chemicals and packaging),
pandemic:
supplies (e.g., water, air, steam and ice), disposals Non-
(e.g., waste and sewage) and handling of products Conformitie
(e.g., storage and transportation)
June 2021
measures for the prevention of cross-contamination Food

cleaning and sanitizing Safety

News and
pest control Industry
personnel hygiene Round-up

Popular
PRP’s are usually general to the process and not
Understand
focused on any particular step in the process.
the
For example, cleaning and sanitizing are activities which difference
can apply to all steps, rooms, items and building fabric. between
PRP, OPRP
They also have the character that their failure does not & CCP...
necessarily lead to an immediate and imminent food
The
safety risk.
difference
between
Failure of a PRP does not necessarily HACCP and
lead to an immediate and imminent HARPC. A
food safety risk case of the
Emperor’s...

Generally, time and repeated failure are required to

New
create a critical change in the safety of the product. checklist
available
Stated another way, they usually manage more general
for TS ISO
and lower risk hazards.
22002

oPRP Thank you

for
As a concept of control, it was introduced by the ISO in
Connect
their food safety management standard ISO 22000 and 360°
  
is defined as a control measure identified by the hazard Comments
analysis as essential in order to control the likelihood of
I a Quality
introducing food safety hazards and/or the
and Food
contamination or proliferation of food safety hazards in
safety
the product(s) or in the processing environment. manager in
meat
What is striking about this control measure and its
factory
I
definition is the almost universal confusion users have
need...
in differentiating it from CCP’s and PRP’s. - by
Mohammed
The variation in the focus of the control measures
Taha
appears to be based on a subtle difference in the
description of hazards and risks. Glad to
hear you
In my day-to-day, I speak with others who have found it have
difficult to understand the nature of oPRP’s. enjoyed
the article
To try and clarify what exactly an oPRP is, it has been Charo!
described as a specific action relating to the process, - by Barry
and, while not being critical for food safety, it is O'Neill

essential in reducing the likelihood of a specific hazard

This article
occurring. is so useful
especially
oPRP’s are essential in reducing the for those
likelihood of a specific hazard occurring working...
- by Charo
For example, a cooking step in a process may be critical Sone

to controlling the risk of a specific pathogen surviving

Very
such as E. coli. informative
Need
This is an intrinsic step for producing a cooked product
further
and its removal from the process is not possible and information
therefore it’s correct to say that control is critical. about
Natasha...
Essentially, this means that the control applied at this
- by M
step can be considered critical and is, therefore, a CCP. Essam

Alternatively, metal detection in the same process is Tags

also designed to reduce the likelihood of a hazard
reaching the consumer and arguably could be
considered a CCP as well.

However, the key difference is that it is not an intrinsic Archives

step required for the production of safe cooked ham.
Select Month

  
It can be removed from the process and a company can
practically still produce relatively safe products.

Nonetheless, its presence may be deemed essential to

reducing the likelihood of the hazard and therefore an
oPRP.

It is important to realize that this is simply one possible

definition of an oPRP which provides some working
understanding.

When to determine and apply

control points
GFSI Standards set out requirements for determining
control points. The requirements under BRC v8 and ISO
22000:2018 do vary, so it’s important to understand
each fully and how they apply to your specific situation.

2.8 DETERMINE THE CRITICAL CONTROL

P O I N T S (C C P S) ( E Q U I VA L E N T TO C O D E X
A L I M E N TA R I U S S T E P 7, P R I N C I P L E 2 )

CLAUSE REQUIREMENTS

2.8.1 For each hazard that requires control, control

points shall be reviewed to identify those that
are critical. This requires a logical approach and
may be facilitated by use of a decision tree.
Critical control points (CCPs) shall be those
control points which are required in order to
prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or
reduce it to an acceptable level. If a hazard is
identified at a step where control is necessary
for safety but the control does not exist, the
product or process shall be modified at that
step, or at an earlier step, to provide a control
measure.

8.5.2.4 S E L E C T I O N A N D C AT E G O R I Z AT I O N O F
C O N T R O L M E A S U R E (S)

8.5.2.4.1  Based on the hazard assessment, the

  
8.5.2.4.2 organization shall select an appropriate control
measure or combination of control measures
that will be capable of preventing or reducing
the identified significant food safety hazards to
defined acceptable levels.

The organization shall categorize the selected

identified control measure(s) to be managed as
OPRP(s) (see 3.30) or at CCPs (see 3.11).

The categorization shall be carried out using a

systematic approach. For each of the control
measures selected, there shall be an
assessment of the following:

a) the likelihood of failure of its functioning;

b) the severity of the consequence in the case

of failure of its functioning; this assessment
shall include:

1. the effect on identified significant food

safety hazards

2. the location in relation to other control

measure(s);

3. whether it is specifically established and

applied to reduce the hazards to an
acceptable level;

4. whether it is a single measure or is part of

combination of control measure (s)

In addition, for each control measure, the

systematic approach shall include an
assessment of the feasibility of:

a) establishing measurable critical limits and/or

measurable/observable action criteria;

b) monitoring to detect any failure to remain

within critical limit and/or
measurable/observable action criteria;

c) applying timely corrections in case of failure.

The decision-making process and results of the

selection and categorization of the control
  
 measures shall be maintained as documented
information.

External requirements (e.g. statutory,

regulatory and customer requirements) that
can impact the choice and the strictness of the
control measures shall also be maintained as
documented information.

After specific hazards are identified at a process step, a

risk assessment is required to determine if the hazard is
significant or not.

If significant hazards are identified then a decision tree

is required to help determine if the hazard requires
control and, if so, should they be controlled as a CCP,
PRP or oPRP.

Significance describes those hazards which present a

real risk of impacting on the consumer.

It may be said that significance is essentially an

expression of risk.

In food safety, risk is a measure of the combined

severity of impact from a hazard and its probability of
occurrence.

risk is a measure of the combined

severity of impact from a hazard and its
probability of occurrence

In its simplest form risk is expressed as being High,

Medium or Low.

Below is an example of a 5 x 5 risk assessment model

along with a risk rating which uses Safefood 360° to
demonstrate.

  
If significant hazards are identified then a decision tree
is required to help determine if the hazard requires
control and if so should they be controlled as a CCP,
PRP or oPRP.

There are large numbers of decision trees employed

and cited in various standards, but arguably the most
common decision tree is the CODEX standard decision
tree for HACCP.

The CODEX tree focuses on whether the hazard should

be controlled as a CCP or not, but it’s important to be
aware that it doesn’t assist in determining what type of
control shall be used where there is an outcome other
than CCP.

Other robust models can account for oPRP and PRP.

Simple Decision Tree

  
CODEX Decision Tree

Robust Example

  
 

The more robust model really builds on the CODEX

decision tree.

The tree allows for a solid and logical approach to

determine control measures and will clearly show an
auditor how you arrived at your decisions.

Risk assessment models and decision trees will help

you to determine hazard management and controls.

It is clear that PRP’s are basic controls/activities within

a production facility.

oPRP’s and CCP’s are specific and can be determined as

being the control by using a decision tree.

Applying these steps in the future

  
A key point to keep in mind in this article when
determining what Control Points are relevant to you and
when they are applicable is understanding their
application and definition under the scheme you are
compliant with.

As this can vary under GFSI it is extremely important to

read and understand these rules and how they relate to
your situation in order to apply the information and
your understanding of control most effectively.

Lastly, an effective control process is one step that can

be taken that will help to mitigate against risk and help
put forward safe quality food for your end customer.

While there are many other steps and approaches that

these can be combined with to be applied most
effectively, Safefood 360° offers a robust system that
assists in their application in the context of your overall
food safety management system.

If you would like to know more information about how

you can benefit from this, please talk to our technical
consultant here

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