Hazard analysis - finding and assessing the hazards
Plain-language summary
Identify every realistic biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazard, decide which are significant, and choose how to control each one (HACCP principle 1).
What the clause is really asking
This is the heart of HACCP. Using your preliminary work, you identify the hazards reasonably expected at each step, assess each for severity and likelihood, and determine which are significant enough to need specific control. You then select control measures and categorise them - those managed by PRPs, by operational PRPs, or at critical control points. Get this wrong and the whole plan controls the wrong things.
What auditors look for
Auditors scrutinise the logic: are all hazard types covered including allergens, is the significance assessment justified, does the categorisation of control measures (CCP vs OPRP vs PRP) make sense and is it consistent. They will challenge a hazard that was dismissed without sound reasoning.
Typical evidence
Hazard analysis worksheets; significance/risk assessment rationale; control-measure selection and categorisation; decision logic for CCP/OPRP
How to comply — recommendations
Cover all four hazard groups plus allergens at every process step and document why each hazard is or is not significant - the reasoning matters as much as the conclusion. Apply a consistent method to decide whether a control is a CCP, an OPRP or a PRP. Keep current scientific and regulatory knowledge behind your judgements.
Common nonconformities
Allergens not assessed as hazards; significance decisions unjustified; inconsistent CCP/OPRP categorisation; hazards dismissed without rationale
Related clauses
ISO 22000 8.5.1, 8.5.3, 8.5.4; Codex HACCP principle 1
Qlause provides interpretive guidance only and is not a substitute for the standard. Refer to your licensed copy of the relevant standard for the authoritative text.