Which aspect of food safety does HACCP primarily focus on?

HACCP, or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, primarily focuses on the prevention of contamination in food production and handling processes. This food safety management system emphasizes identifying and managing specific hazards that could pose risks to food safety, such as biological, chemical, or physical contaminants. By establishing critical control points in the process, HACCP helps ensure that potential hazards are effectively minimized or eliminated, thereby safeguarding public health.

The importance of prevention is at the core of HACCP’s methodology, which involves a systematic assessment of the entire food production process to identify where contamination could occur and to put controls in place that prevent those risks from becoming a reality. While employee training, storage conditions, and marketing practices are important in the broader context of food safety management, they are not the primary focus of HACCP, which is more concerned with hazard identification and the prevention of contamination at various stages of food processing.