Acceptable level: A level of hazard in a food at or below which the food is considered to be safe according to its intended use.

Allergen cross-contact: The unintentional incorporation of an allergenic food, or ingredient, into another food that is not intended to contain that allergenic food or ingredient.

Cleaning: The removal of soil, food residues, dirt, grease or other objectionable matter.

Competent authority: The government authority or official body authorized by the government that is responsible for the setting of regulatory food safety requirements and/or for the organization of official controls including enforcement.

Contaminant: Any biological, chemical or physical agent, foreign matter or other substances not intentionally added to food that may compromise food safety or suitability.

Contamination: The introduction or occurrence of a contaminant in the food or food environment.

Control:

• when used as a noun: The state wherein correct procedures are being followed and any established criteria are being met.
• when used as a verb: To take all necessary actions to ensure and maintain compliance with established criteria and procedures.
  

Control measure: Any action or activity that can be used to prevent or eliminate a hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.

Corrective action: Any action taken when a deviation occurs in order to re-establish control, segregate and determine the disposition of the affected product, if any, and prevent or minimize reoccurrence of the deviation.

Critical Control Point (CCP): A step at which a control measure or control measures, essential to control a significant hazard, is/are applied in a HACCP system.

Critical limit: A criterion, observable or measurable, relating to a control measure at a CCP which separates acceptability from unacceptability of the food.

Deviation: Failure to meet a critical limit or to follow a GHP procedure.

Disinfection: Reduction by means of biological or chemical agents and/or physical methods in the number of viable microorganisms on surfaces, in water or air to a level that does not compromise food safety and/or suitability.

Flow diagram: A systematic representation of the sequence of steps used in the production or manufacture of food.

Food business operator: The entity responsible for operating a business at any step in the food chain.

Food handler: Any person who directly handles packaged or unpackaged food, equipment and utensils used for food, or surfaces that come into contact with food and that is expected, therefore, to comply with food hygiene requirements.

Food hygiene: All conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of the food chain.

Food hygiene system: Prerequisite programmes, supplemented with control measures at CCPs, as appropriate that, when taken as a whole, ensure that food is safe and suitable for its intended use.

Food safety: Assurance that food will not cause adverse health effects to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use.

Food suitability: Assurance that food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use.

Good Hygiene Practices (GHPs): Fundamental measures and conditions applied at any step within the food chain to provide safe and suitable food.

HACCP plan: Documentation or set of documents, prepared in accordance with the principles of HACCP to ensure control of significant hazards in the food business.

HACCP system: The development of a HACCP plan and the implementation of the procedures in accordance with that plan.

Hazard: A biological, chemical or physical agent in food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect.

Hazard analysis: The process of collecting and evaluating information on hazards identified in raw materials and other ingredients, the environment, in the process or in the food, and conditions leading to their presence to decide whether or not these are significant hazards.

Monitor: The act of conducting a planned sequence of observations or measurements of control parameters to assess whether a control measure is under control.

Primary production: Those steps in the food chain up to and including storage and, where appropriate, transport of outputs of farming. This would include growing crops, raising fish and animals, and harvesting plants, animals or animal products from a farm or their natural habitat.

Prerequisite programme: Programmes including Good Hygiene Practices, Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices, as well as other practices and procedures such as training and traceability, that establish the basic environmental and operating conditions that set the foundation for implementation of a HACCP system.

Significant hazard: A hazard identified by a hazard analysis, as reasonably likely to occur at an unacceptable level in the absence of control, and for which control is essential given the intended use of the food.

Step: A point, procedure, operation or stage in the food chain, including raw materials, from primary production to final consumption.

Validation of control measures: Obtaining evidence that a control measure or combination of control measures, if properly implemented, is capable of controlling the hazard to a specified outcome.

 Verification: The application of methods, procedures, tests and other evaluations, in addition to monitoring, to determine whether a control measure is or has been operating as intended.