The seven principles
Free HACCP training from Confi Food. Level 2, Lesson 3: the seven principles of HACCP in order, in plain language, and why each one builds on the last.
1The seven principles, in order
Welcome to Lesson Three of Level Two of the Confi Food HACCP Food Handler course. This lesson covers the seven principles of HACCP. In this lesson you will learn all seven principles in order, a simple way to hold them in your head, and why the order they come in cannot be rearranged. They appear one at a time on screen. Principle One is to conduct a hazard analysis, which means working out what could go wrong at each step.
Principle Two is to determine the critical control points, which means finding the steps where control is essential.
Principle Three is to establish critical limits, which means setting the number that means safe, such as a seventy five degree core.
Principle Four is to monitor each critical control point, which means checking that each point stays within its limit.
Principle Five is to establish corrective action, which means deciding in advance what to do if a limit is missed.
Principle Six is to verify the system works, which means checking that the whole plan is doing its job.
Principle Seven is to keep records, which means writing it down so that you can prove all of the above.
Here are the seven principles, each translated into what it asks you to do. Principle 1, conduct a hazard analysis, means work out what could go wrong at each step. Principle 2, determine the critical control points, means find the steps where control is essential. Principle 3, establish critical limits, means set the number that separates safe from unsafe, such as a 75 degree core. Principle 4, monitor each critical control point, means check that each point stays within its limit. Principle 5, establish corrective action, means decide in advance what to do when a limit is missed. Principle 6, verify the system works, means check that the whole plan is doing its job. Principle 7, keep documentation and records, means write it all down so you can prove everything above. Learn them in this order, because the order carries meaning.
2Seven principles, three simple jobs
Seven items is a lot to carry, so here is a way to hold them. The seven principles fit inside three simple jobs.
The first job is to plan, which means setting the system up. That covers Principle One, finding the hazards, Principle Two, finding the critical points, and Principle Three, setting the safe limits.
The second job is to run it, meaning operating the system day to day. That covers Principle Four, monitoring the points, and Principle Five, fixing problems when limits are missed.
The third job is to prove it, meaning showing the system works. That covers Principle Six, verifying the whole system, and Principle Seven, keeping the records. Plan, run, prove. The seven principles fit inside those three jobs, and if you remember the three you can rebuild the seven.
Seven items is a lot to carry, so here is a way to hold them that most people find sticks. The seven principles fall into three jobs. The first three are Plan: find the hazards, find the critical points, set the safe limits. That is the system being designed. The next two are Run: monitor the points, and fix problems when limits are missed. That is the system operating day to day. The last two are Prove: verify the whole system, and keep the records. That is showing it works. Plan, run, prove. If a question asks you to place a principle, working out which of the three jobs it belongs to usually gets you most of the way there, and the plain shape helps the seven feel like a story and not a list to memorise.
3Each one needs the answer from the one before
The order is not arbitrary. Each principle needs the answer from the one before it.
Follow the chain. You cannot pick control points until you know the hazards. You cannot set a limit until you know the point it applies to. You cannot monitor until you know the limit to check against. And you cannot plan a fix until you know what monitoring found.
This is why the principles are always taught and applied in order. You cannot carry out step four without the answers from steps one, two and three.
The principles are always applied in the same order because each one needs the output of the one before it, and this is the single most important idea in the lesson. You cannot determine the critical control points until you have done the hazard analysis, because a critical control point is a place where a hazard is controlled, and you do not yet know the hazards. You cannot set a critical limit until you know which point it applies to. You cannot monitor until you know the limit you are checking against. You cannot plan corrective action until you know what monitoring is looking for. Verification and records then wrap around the whole thing. This is why HACCP is described as a sequence instead of a checklist. Doing them out of order does more than make the plan untidy, it makes the later steps impossible, because they would have nothing to work from.
4Put them in order
This part is yours to do. The seven principles are out of order. Tap a principle, then tap the place you think it belongs, and tap a placed one to take it back.
The order is not a convention that could have gone another way. Each principle needs the answer from the one before it, so getting them into sequence is the same thing as understanding how the system is built.
The seven principles are a chain, and each link needs the answer produced by the one before it. You cannot determine the critical control points until the hazard analysis has told you what hazards exist, so principle two waits for principle one. You cannot set a critical limit until you know which point it applies to, so three waits for two. You cannot monitor until there is a limit to check against, so four waits for three. You cannot plan a corrective action until you know what monitoring would find, so five waits for four. Verification checks the whole system, which means the whole system has to exist first, and record keeping is what makes all six of the others provable to someone outside the business. Plan, run, prove is the shape to hold on to. One, two and three are planning. Four and five are running it. Six and seven are proving it. If you can rebuild the order from the dependencies instead of from memory, you understand the system and not the list.
5Which comes first?
Now a situation to work through for yourself. A business is writing its HACCP plan from scratch. Which of these must it do first? Option A, set the critical limits, such as cooking temperatures. Option B, set up the record-keeping paperwork. Option C, conduct a hazard analysis to find what could go wrong. Choose the option you would take, and the screen will explain the reasoning.
The scenario asks what a business writing its plan must do first, and the answer is the hazard analysis, Principle 1. Setting critical limits first is a common instinct, because temperatures feel like the concrete part of food safety, but a limit is meaningless until you know which step it protects, and that depends on knowing the hazards. Setting up the paperwork first is Principle 7 arriving far too early, since there is nothing to record until the system exists. The whole point of the fixed order is that the plan builds from the ground up, and the ground is always the hazard analysis. Get that right and everything above it has something solid to stand on.
6The seven, in order
Here are the seven principles again, in order. One, conduct a hazard analysis. Two, determine the critical control points. Three, establish critical limits. Four, monitor each critical control point. Five, establish corrective action. Six, verify the system works. Seven, keep documentation and records. Those seven, in that sequence, are the backbone of every HACCP plan in the world.
Here they are in order, to fix them in memory. One, conduct a hazard analysis. Two, determine the critical control points. Three, establish critical limits. Four, monitor each critical control point. Five, establish corrective action. Six, verify the system works. Seven, keep documentation and records. Plan covers one to three, run covers four and five, prove covers six and seven. The next lessons in Level 2 open up the ones you meet most in daily work, starting with what a critical control point is, then critical limits, monitoring and corrective action together, and prerequisite programmes.
7One question from the quiz
To finish, here is a question of the kind you will meet in the quiz. What is the first principle of HACCP? Option A, keep documentation and records. Option B, determine the critical control points. Option C, conduct a hazard analysis. Option D, establish critical limits. Choose your answer on screen, and the feedback will show you where you stand.
This is the third of seven lessons in Level 2, and every lesson is free to watch for as long as you need. When you are ready, the quiz proves what you know and earns a certificate recognised by TrustBite, an independent food safety recognition body. One payment covers the quiz and certificate for all three levels, so whichever level you buy first, the other two are included at no extra cost, and each certificate is valid for three years with renewal at 5 euros. No registration is needed to keep learning, and you only pay when you decide you are ready to be tested. If you are training a team, group options are available for both hospitality and production sites.
8The frame is built
The frame is built. You now know the seven principles and the order they run in, which means the rest of Level Two is a matter of looking closely at each one. Every lesson stays free to watch, for as long as you need. When you are ready to prove what you know, the quiz earns you a certificate recognised by TrustBite, an independent food safety recognition body. Certification is a single payment of twenty nine euros ninety nine, and it covers the quiz and the certificate for all three levels, so Levels One and Three are included at no extra cost. The quiz is twenty questions with an eighty percent pass mark, and your certificate is listed on the TrustBite public registry, where any employer can verify it. Get yourself certified and the framework you have just learned becomes proof an employer can check. If you are training a team, Confi Food offers group options for hospitality and food production. When you are ready, move on to Lesson Four, critical control points. Thank you for learning with Confi Food.
You now have the whole frame of HACCP, the seven principles and the shape they make. Plan, run, prove. Everything else in Level 2 is a closer look at parts of this frame. The next lesson takes the idea at the centre of the whole system, the critical control point, and shows exactly what makes a step critical and how it differs from an ordinary good practice. Every lesson stays free and you can rewatch any of them. When you are ready, the quiz earns a certificate recognised by TrustBite, and one payment covers all three levels.
Certification
Every lesson stays free to read and to work through. Certification is a single payment of €29.99, which covers the quiz and the certificate for all three levels. The quiz is twenty questions with an eighty percent pass mark, and passing earns a certificate recognised by TrustBite, an independent food safety recognition body. Certificates are listed on the TrustBite public registry and are valid for three years.