Food Hazard Analysis UK: HACCP Guide for Businesses

Overview

Hazard analysis is the structured process of identifying biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards that could affect the safety of food, then deciding how to control them. In a UK context, it sits inside the HACCP framework, which is the internationally recognised system adopted by the Food Standards Agency and reflected in retained EU food hygiene regulations.

Under those rules, any food business operator, from a small cafe to a large manufacturer, must put in place, implement and maintain permanent procedures based on HACCP principles. For smaller businesses, the Food Standards Agency provides simplified packs such as Safer Food, Better Business, which apply the same thinking in a more accessible format.

Whether you use the full HACCP approach or a simplified system, the logic is the same: map your process, spot where hazards can enter or grow, decide which steps are critical to controlling them, and keep enough evidence to show your controls are working. This is what environmental health officers look at during routine inspections and what underpins your food hygiene rating.

Key steps

1. Describe your product and process. Before you can analyse hazards, write down what you make or serve, who eats it (including vulnerable groups such as the elderly or young children), and every step from delivery of ingredients through to service or dispatch. A clear process flow makes it far easier to spot where things can go wrong.
2. Identify the hazards at each step. Go through the process and list biological hazards (such as salmonella or listeria), chemical hazards (cleaning products, allergens), and physical hazards (glass, metal, plastic). Consider how likely each is to occur and how serious the impact would be if it did. Be honest rather than optimistic.
3. Decide your critical control points. A critical control point is a step where control is essential to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard to a safe level. Common examples include cooking temperatures, chilled storage, and checks for allergen cross-contamination. Not every step is critical, the skill is identifying the ones that really matter.
4. Set limits, monitoring and corrective actions. For each critical control point, decide the measurable limit (for example, a core cooking temperature), how often you check it, who is responsible, and what you will do if the limit is breached. Corrective actions might include recooking, discarding product, or reviewing the procedure.
5. Verify, record and review. Keep written records of monitoring, corrective actions and staff training. Review your hazard analysis whenever your menu, supplier, equipment or process changes, and at sensible intervals in any event. Inspectors will expect to see that the system is live and used, not a binder gathering dust.

Common questions