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HACCP and cold-chain glossary

50 food hygiene and cold-chain terms, each defined in one to three sentences from the official texts: the HACCP method, EU and French regulations, date marking, chilled and frozen storage, temperature measurement and incidents. Every figure points to its source; where no text gives one, the definition says so.

Definitions checked against their sources on .

The HACCP method

HACCPHazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

A method that identifies the hazards of a food activity and sets, for each, the step where it is controlled, the limit to hold, the monitoring and the corrective action. It is neither a standard nor a certification: Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires every food business operator after primary production to run procedures based on its seven principles, which come from the Codex Alimentarius.

The 7 HACCP principles

The seven steps Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires of every HACCP procedure: 1. identify the hazards; 2. identify the critical control points (CCPs); 3. establish critical limits; 4. monitor the CCPs; 5. establish corrective actions; 6. verify regularly that it all works; 7. keep documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of the business.

Hazard and risk

Two words Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 keeps apart. A hazard is a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect; risk is the probability of that effect combined with its severity. HACCP analyses hazards in order to control risks.

Hazard analysis

The first HACCP principle: listing, step by step from receipt to service, the microbiological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels. The rest of the plan follows from it.

CCPcritical control point

A step at which control is essential to prevent or eliminate a hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level. Each CCP carries a measurable critical limit and monitoring; any breach triggers the corrective action. In a kitchen, cold storage and cooking are two classic examples.

Critical limit

The value that separates acceptable from unacceptable at a CCP: a maximum storage temperature, a core temperature, a duration. It has to be measurable, or it cannot be monitored.

Monitoring

The fourth HACCP principle: the planned measurement that tells whether a CCP stays within its critical limit. It states who measures what, when and with which instrument; for refrigeration it is the temperature reading or a logger's continuous measurement.

Corrective action

The fifth HACCP principle: what is done when monitoring shows a CCP is no longer under control (refuse a delivery, move the goods, discard, re-cook, have the unit repaired) and the written record of that decision, batch by batch.

Verification

The sixth HACCP principle, not to be confused with monitoring: regular procedures that confirm the plan works, such as reviewing the records, calibrating or checking the thermometers, and testing where the business justifies it.

PRP and OPRPprerequisite programmes, operational prerequisite programmes

PRPs are the basic good hygiene practices that keep the premises clean and safe (cleaning, pest control, staff hygiene). An OPRP, a concept from ISO 22000 taken up by the European Commission, controls a significant hazard identified by the analysis but without a critical limit in the strict sense: it is followed through action criteria or observations, where a CCP is followed against a measured limit.

Regulations and documents

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002General Food Law

The regulation laying down the general principles and requirements of food law and establishing the European Food Safety Authority. It holds the definitions of hazard and risk, the ban on placing unsafe food on the market (Article 14), traceability (Article 18) and the duty to withdraw and recall (Article 19).

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004hygiene of foodstuffs, part of the hygiene package

The regulation on the hygiene of foodstuffs, applicable to every food business operator. Article 5 requires the procedures based on the HACCP principles; Annex II sets the general hygiene rules, including a cold chain that is not to be interrupted (Chapter IX) and staff training (Chapter XII). It sets no temperature figure.

Regulation (EC) No 853/2004

The regulation laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin. It adds sector requirements to 852/2004, including the chilling temperatures for meat, poultry and fishery products and the approval of the establishments that handle them; unless expressly stated, it does not apply to retail.

Regulation (EC) No 37/2005temperature monitoring of quick-frozen foodstuffs

The regulation on the monitoring of temperatures in the means of transport, warehousing and storage of quick-frozen foodstuffs. It requires air-temperature recording by instruments complying with EN 12830, EN 13485 and EN 13486, and dated records kept for at least one year. Derogations cover in particular retail display cabinets, local distribution and, with the authority's agreement, cold stores under 10 m³ in retail outlets.

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011food information to consumers (FIC)

The regulation on the provision of food information to consumers. It sets the "use by" and "best before" dates and their wording (Article 24 and Annex X) and the list of 14 allergens to declare (Annex II), non-prepacked food served in catering included.

French order of 21 December 2009

A French order setting the health rules for retail, storage and transport of products of animal origin and foods containing them. It is the French text that puts figures on storage temperatures by food category (Annex I) and on the rules for collective catering, rapid cooling and cook-chill included (Annex IV). It applies in France; elsewhere the national rules set their own figures.

Good hygiene practice and guidesGHP, national guides to good practice for hygiene and HACCP

Good hygiene practices are the basic hygiene measures that come before the HACCP plan: premises, staff, cleaning, pest control. The guides to good practice are sector documents written by the trade in consultation with the authorities, encouraged by Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004; using one is voluntary, but it gives the operator a recognised reference.

PMS (French food safety plan)plan de maîtrise sanitaire

The French name for the document set that holds a business's HACCP approach: good hygiene practices, the HACCP plan itself and traceability, with the records that prove they are applied. Elsewhere it is called the food safety management system or food safety plan. It is the first document an inspector asks for, and the one the records are compared against.

Cleaning and disinfection schedule

The document that states, for each surface, piece of equipment and room, what is cleaned, with which product, how often and by whom, and that keeps the proof it was done. It is one of the good hygiene practices of the food safety plan.

Food hygiene training

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (Annex II, Chapter XII) requires food handlers to be supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene, and those responsible for the HACCP procedure to be trained in applying it. France adds a specific rule for commercial restaurants: at least one person on site must have completed a 14-hour food hygiene course (Decree No 2011-731 and the order of 5 October 2011). There is no regulatory "HACCP certificate" beyond that.

Dates, labelling and traceability

"Use by" dateDLC in French labelling

A safety limit carried by foods that are highly perishable from a microbiological point of view and likely, after a short period, to be an immediate danger to health. After the "use by" date the food is deemed unsafe (Article 24 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002): it may no longer be sold, served or processed.

"Best before" dateDDM in French labelling, formerly DLUO

A quality limit: until then the food keeps its specific properties when stored as indicated; after it, flavour or texture may decline but the food remains safe to eat if the packaging is intact and storage was respected. In French labelling it is the DDM, which replaced the older DLUO under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, applicable since 13 December 2014.

Secondary shelf life

The date the operator sets once a product is opened, decanted or repacked, because the original date then stops applying. No text sets a single duration: it comes from the sector guides to good practice and the food safety plan, and is written on the product and in the register.

Allergens (the 14 major ones)

The 14 substances or products causing allergies or intolerances that Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires to be declared, prepacked or not: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, molluscs.

Traceability

The ability to trace and follow a food through all stages of production, processing and distribution (Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002). Article 18 turns it into a "one step back, one step forward" duty: every operator must know who supplied it and which businesses it supplied, and show it to the authority on demand.

Cold chain and food holding

Cold chain

The continuous holding of a chilled or frozen food, or a temperature-sensitive healthcare product, within its temperature range, from production to consumption. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 says it is not to be interrupted, while permitting limited periods outside temperature control for the practicalities of handling, provided that no risk to health results; it sets no duration.

Chilled storage (froid positif)refrigeration above freezing

Cold storage that stays above the food's freezing point, so it keeps its texture and qualities: the domain of refrigerators, display cabinets and chilled rooms. French professionals call it froid positif. The maximum temperatures are set by Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 for some foods of animal origin and by national rules for the other categories (in France, the order of 21 December 2009).

Frozen storage (froid négatif)freezing

Keeping food in the frozen state, at a temperature low enough to halt biological reactions: freezers, frozen stores, frozen transport. French professionals call it froid négatif. For quick-frozen food the reference is -18 °C or lower at all points (Directive 89/108/EEC).

Quick-freezing and freezing

A quick-frozen food has undergone freezing that crosses the zone of maximum crystallisation as rapidly as possible, and is then kept at -18 °C or lower at all points (Directive 89/108/EEC); its transport and storage fall under Regulation (EC) No 37/2005. A food that is merely frozen has not been through that process and does not carry the name.

Rapid coolingblast chilling

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires food held or served chilled to be cooled as quickly as possible after cooking, without a figure. In France, the order of 21 December 2009 (Annex IV) puts one on it for collective catering: the core temperature must not stay between +63 °C and +10 °C for more than two hours, unless a validated hazard analysis proves slower cooling safe.

Cook-chill (liaison froide)

A distribution method in which dishes prepared in advance are kept chilled between preparation and use. In France, where the term comes from (order of 21 December 2009, Article 2), collective catering keeps them after rapid cooling in an enclosure between 0 °C and +3 °C (Annex IV).

Hot holding (liaison chaude)

A distribution method in which dishes are kept hot between preparation and use. In France (order of 21 December 2009, Article 2), hot holding is at +63 °C or above. EU hygiene law sets no hot-holding figure and national values differ, so check the rule where you operate.

Reheating (remise en température)

Reheating a cook-chill dish before service. In French collective catering, the order of 21 December 2009 (Annex IV) requires the temperature not to stay more than one hour between +10 °C and the serving temperature, which cannot be below +63 °C unless a validated hazard analysis shows a lower one is safe.

Thawing

Bringing a frozen food back to the unfrozen state. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (Annex II, Chapter IX) requires it to be done so as to minimise the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms, at temperatures that do not result in a risk to health, with run-off liquid drained where it presents a risk; the method (in a chilled enclosure, for instance) is described in the food safety plan.

Measurement and monitoring

Temperature readingtemperature log

A dated, signed and recorded reading of the temperature of an enclosure or a food, on a sheet or in software. It is the commonest monitoring record; no general text fixes its frequency, which is decided in the food safety plan.

Thermometer

An instrument that shows a temperature at one moment, read by a person: an air thermometer in an enclosure, or a probe thermometer for a food. It keeps no history; for quick-frozen food, thermometers for air and product temperature fall under EN 13485, cited by Regulation (EC) No 37/2005.

Temperature probe

The sensing element that measures temperature where it is placed, connected to a thermometer, a logger or a connected sensor. Its position matters as much as its accuracy: a needle probe measures a food's core, an air probe the enclosure's air, and mapping tells where to put it.

Core temperature

The temperature at the thermal centre of a food, the point that heats or cools last. It is what cooking, cooling and reheating limits refer to; it is measured with a probe, not inferred from the air temperature of the enclosure.

Temperature data logger

An instrument that measures and time-stamps temperature at regular intervals and keeps the history, stand-alone or connected. For quick-frozen food in transport and storage, Regulation (EC) No 37/2005 requires one complying with EN 12830; for other food no text prescribes a type of instrument, and the food safety plan chooses.

Calibrationverification, adjustment

The operation that compares an instrument's indications with a reference standard and establishes the deviation, with its uncertainty (International Vocabulary of Metrology). It does not correct the instrument: that is adjustment. Periodic verification checks that an instrument stays within its tolerances; for instruments covered by Regulation (EC) No 37/2005 it follows EN 13486.

Metrological traceabilityNIST-traceable, accredited calibration

The property of a measurement result that can be related to a reference through a documented unbroken chain of calibrations, each contributing to the uncertainty (VIM). "NIST-traceable" means the chain leads back to the standards of NIST, the United States national metrology institute; national accreditation bodies (COFRAC in France, for instance) accredit the calibration laboratories whose certificates carry that chain. It is not food traceability.

Temperature mapping

A campaign of simultaneous measurements at several points of an enclosure or room, over a representative period, to establish the real temperature distribution: hot spots, cold spots, the effect of doors and defrosts. Required before use for storage areas of medicinal products for human use (guidelines 2013/C 343/01, section 3.2.1), it tells where to put the monitoring probe; for food, no text requires it.

Mean kinetic temperature (MKT)

A single derived temperature that, if maintained over a defined period, affords the same thermal challenge to a drug product as the range of higher and lower temperatures actually experienced over that period (ICH Q1A(R2) glossary). It weights warm peaks according to the Arrhenius relation, so it is never below the arithmetic mean; it is used to assess excursions in pharmaceutical storage, not to judge food.

Incidents and inspections

Temperature excursion

Any departure of a product or an enclosure from its permitted temperature range, however long. An excursion is characterised by two facts, the temperature reached and the time spent out of range, and calls for a written decision; it is the pharmacy and logistics term for what food businesses often call a cold-chain break.

Cold-chain break

Any period during which a chilled or frozen food, or a temperature-sensitive healthcare product, sits outside the temperature range it must be kept at: a breakdown, a door left open, a delivery waiting on the dock. No regulation sets a duration beyond which it is serious; what decides is the temperature reached and how long it lasted, product by product.

Foodborne outbreak (TIAC)toxi-infection alimentaire collective in French

Two or more cases of a similar illness, usually gastrointestinal, that can be traced to the same food source; Directive 2003/99/EC requires EU Member States to investigate and report such outbreaks. In France it is called a TIAC and is a notifiable disease, reported to the regional health agency or the departmental consumer-protection service, which investigate and read the business's records.

Withdrawal and recall

When an operator has reason to believe a food does not comply with food safety requirements, it must immediately start withdrawing it from the market and inform the authority; if the product may have reached consumers, it informs them and, if necessary, recalls it (Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002). Traceability is what makes the withdrawal possible batch by batch.

Official food hygiene inspectionofficial control

An official inspection of a food business's hygiene, framed in the EU by Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and normally carried out without notice. The inspector compares the real state of premises and practices with the food safety records; the follow-up ranges from advice to closure.

DDPP (France)direction départementale de la protection des populations

The French departmental state service that carries out official hygiene inspections of food businesses, merged in some departments with the labour and social services as the DDETSPP. It is also one of the bodies a TIAC is reported to. Outside France the equivalent is the competent authority designated under Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

Alim’confiance (France)

The French public scheme that has published, since April 2017, the results of official hygiene inspections of food businesses, open to anyone on alim-confiance.gouv.fr. Each result is given on four French levels, from "très satisfaisant" to "à corriger de manière urgente". It exists only in France; other countries run their own schemes, or none.

Sources

The texts cited by at least one definition. EU regulations apply across the Union; the order of 21 December 2009, Decree No 2011-731, the DDPP and Alim’confiance are French. When in doubt, the official text in force prevails over this glossary.

To put these definitions to work: the free temperature log sheet, or the KelvinTag sensor, which records the temperature of each enclosure continuously.

See also

The other documents in the food-safety file, free to download or generate.