A recent press release has caused some confusion for a number of people engaged in activities supporting the food industry.  The title – ‘HACCP certification programme to be phased out’ – is somewhat misleading as it is actually referring to a particular scheme rather than HACCP itself.

The Stichting Samenwerken Voor Veiligheid (Foundation Cooperation for Safety, SSVV) is a Dutch body who were the originators of what was commonly called ‘Dutch HACCP” one of the earlier certification schemes for HACCP.

Since then ‘Dutch HACCP’ has been replaced by FSSC 22000, a more modern scheme which is GFSI endorsed.  With the development of this and, during the same period, the emergence of other schemes such as BRC and SQF standards, the original ‘Dutch HACCP” no longer has a real place or the same popularity.

Please understand that while this particular scheme (which they refer to as ‘HACCP’) is no longer popular, the replacement schemes are employed extensively all over the globe. These replacement schemes are all generically referenced as HACCP schemes as well – except they are considerably more sophisticated. The HACCP protocols as defined by The World Health Organisation, and referenced as Codex HACCP, are still the core of all of these.

HACCP International’s product certification scheme is aligned with all the GFSI endorsed schemes including, of course, those referenced above. We actually have not referenced “Dutch HACCP” for many years now.

Some organisations, being suppliers to the food industry, rather than processors or handlers are one step removed and may have missed some of the nuances of this. The article is not meant to imply a demise of HACCP. In fact, the opposite is true. You may care to reference an article from HACCP International’s European Director, Richard Mallett – “IS HACCP DISAPPEARING ?”

It is the retirement of one old scheme now replaced by more modern ones that have evolved which represent current world’s best practices. These newer manifestations are now adopted all over the world and are increasing rapidly in their adoption.

I do hope this helps anyone who is unclear.

The original press release can be viewed here :  https://www.foodsafetymanagement.info/en/news/53/