73B-3 |
Simplifying HACCP: A recipe ingredient approach |
S. E. BEATTIE1, B. R. Luick2, and R. K. Blanche1. (1) Nutrition and Food Sciences Program, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0002, (2) Alaska Cooperative Extension, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PO Box 756180, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6180 The concepts of HACCP are difficult to understand by the average food service manager and more difficult to implement. Of particular note is the difficulty in identification of hazards specific to an ingredient and then determining the critical control points for a given food flow or recipe. Incorrect assumptions about the hazard associated with a given ingredient could result in the inclusion of an unnecessary critical control point or worse the absence of a critical control point. The adoption of HACCP by non-franchise and sole proprietor retail food establishments has been slowed by these difficulties. The overall goal of this project was to remove the CCP and critical limit decision making process from food service managers by developing a computer program that determines these automatically. USDA Nutrient Database Standard Reference 13 was downloaded and partially used as the ingredient database. These ingredients were categorized into 27 classes. Words such as cook, chill, re-heat, hold and their synonyms, were used as a lexicon of critical control points found in recipes. Each of the categories of ingredients was assigned critical limits based upon the CCP lexicon. A computer application, MetaCard®, was used to write a program that returned a HACCP recipe upon ingredient input. "Food for Fifty" recipes were used to determine the validity of the analysis program. The HACCP analysis program was able to return accurate CCP and critical limits for entered recipes. A computer program was designed to provide food service managers with a tool to analyze recipe ingredients for critical limits associated with the mitigation of bacterial hazards presented by the ingredient.
Session 73B, Extension
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