| Abstract: | Hygienic engineering is an essential part of any microbiological quality assurance system, designed to produce foods which will not cause foodborne diseases. Hazard analysis will automatically lead to the determination of critical control points where growth of, survival of or contamination with microorganisms can occur. Hygienic engineering should lead to the elimination of these points, or, if this cannot be achieved, engineering should create conditions which will allow these points to be kept under control. For hazard analysis, some basic knowledge about the behaviour of microorganisms is needed in order to understand some general rules that apply in most situations where product safety has to be built in. More expertise may be needed to estimate the severity and the likelihood of occurrence of specific hazards in a given production line. Teamwork between engineers, hygienists, food technologists and microbiologists is essential to assure safety. Hazard analysis should be carried out systematically for all new factory projects, line extensions, changes in lines, new products etc., in order to be effective. Some examples are given to illustrate the HACCP concept and how to carry out hazard analysis. |
