HACCP

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Food manufacturing operates at a pressure point where biological risk, regulatory obligation, mechanical complexity, and human performance converge simultaneously. 

As it stands, the bill would mandate that USDA provide guidance on HACCP plans to small and very small meat processors, require USDA and FDA to define “honey” and establish honey authenticity testing standards, and initiate other directives.

In the first of this two-part episode series recorded live from the show floor of the 2026 Food Safety Summit, we interviewed Summit speakers from the regulatory and industry spheres about topics discussed during their respective sessions, including retail/foodservice sanitation and culture, digital HACCP, cross-sector data-sharing, and more.

The guideline is designed to help small and very small plants producing egg products meet the regulatory requirements under the Egg Products Inspection Regulations Final Rule, including sanitation and HACCP requirements.

Monitoring and recordkeeping are the heart of HACCP. Records demonstrate that the program is being properly managed and that the established critical limits are being met, providing supporting data to show that the processor is producing safe foods.

Considering advice previously offered by NACMPI, stakeholder feedback will help inform whether FSIS moves forward with proposed changes to the current establishment size categorization scheme under the HACCP Final Rule to better reflect current industry conditions and improve regulatory effectiveness.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, Richard Stier, M.S., a consulting food scientist and longtime Food Safety Magazine contributor, recalls lessons from decades in food processing facilities, discussing crisis preparedness, internal audits, facility sanitation and employee hygiene, HACCP, and why strong food safety programs must be continuously improved to remain effective.

To assist establishments in meeting food safety regulatory requirements, USDA-FSIS has released a new, generic Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) model for ready-to-eat (RTE) fermented, salt-cured, and dried products.

In May 2024, USDA-FSIS published a final determination setting levels at which Salmonella would be considered an adulterant in not-ready-to-eat (NRTE), breaded and stuffed chicken products, which also established a verification sampling program and a requirement for establishments to reassess their HACCP plans. FSIS has delayed the date for its sampling program and the HACCP reviews from May to November, 2025.

Any time a new piece of equipment, such as an increasingly relevant “collaborative robot” (cobot), is incorporated, the food safety plan—including the hazard analysis—must be reanalyzed to determine the new equipment’s impact on the food safety system, and what mitigation strategies must be deployed.