Forming the HACCP Team – FAO

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Forming the HACCP Team

Introduction:

We can think of the ‘formation of the HACCP team’ not only from the perspective
of coffee enterprises that want to establish HACCP programmes but also from the
perspective of other organizations – governmental and non-governmental – that
wish to develop generic HACCP models or hygiene codes that are consistent with
HACCP principles for the sub-sector.

In the case of the hygienic production of green coffee, the latter case is very
important as the production and trading of green coffee is generally carried out
by very small scale operators who do not have the necessary resources to
develop their own hygiene programmes.

In many coffee producing countries governmental and industry organizations
have been established whose mission is to provide technical support to the coffee
sector so as to maintain the competitiveness of a sub-sector that is of major
social and economic importance. The structure, scope, size and resource base of
these supporting institutions vary considerably in the various coffee producing
countries. These differences no doubt give rise to different constraints and
opportunities in the various coffee producing countries for the supporting
institutions seeking to develop advice on HACCP-based approaches to improving
food safety management in the coffee sub-sector.

One of the main focuses of the global project on ‘Improving coffee quality
through the prevention of mould formation’ has been the training of a core group
of staff within the main coffee institutions in producing countries on general
principles of food hygiene and in HACCP programmes. This group has a two-fold
core responsibility:

(cid:131) To design and implement further training on food hygiene and HACCP to

selected target groups;

(cid:131) To participate in teams to work on the development / refinement of HACCP
models and hygiene codes for selected categories of coffee operations
(this work clearly feeds back in to the training programmes that they
design and implement).

Required expertise:

To fully understand the coffee production / processing / marketing system and
be able to identify all likely hazards and appropriate control measures, it is
important that the HACCP team be made up of people from a wide range of
disciplines. The team should include:

(cid:131) Specialist(s) with a detailed knowledge of coffee production is required.
This specialist would have a major role in advising on aspects of
production practice that might have a potential to affect food safety, or
how food safety considerations can be integrated into overall sound
production practices;

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• Specialist(s) with a sound understanding of processing and marketing
systems. This specialist(s) would have main responsibility for identifying
potential hazards associated with different raw materials, process steps,
and marketing chains. He would also have to advise on possible control
measures that are both practicable and sensitive to quality and other
market considerations;

• An experienced microbiologist, specialised in mycology, is required to
provide the scientific information on mould growth and mycotoxin
production and factors implicated in their control;

• Specialist(s) in the area of HACCP application who can ensure that HACCP
principles are properly interpreted and effectively applied to the coffee
chain;

• Specialists in areas such as food law / regulations and bio-statistics may

be required to provide advice on selected issues;

• Several specialists, each with an understanding of particular hazards and
associated risks, may be required to provide advice on specific issues, e.g.
chemist, toxicologist, food scientist/technologist, process engineer;

• People with other areas of expertise, such as packaging specialists, quality
control experts, raw material buyers, production staff, farmers, traders,
exporters, who are involved with the process, and have working
knowledge of it, may be brought into the team temporarily in order to
provide relevant expertise as required;

• Specialists in the fields of human behaviour, training / adult education,
and socio-economics may also make an important contribution to the
HACCP team’s work.

Forming the team:

There are many areas of expertise that should be represented for a
comprehensive analysis of the coffee production / processing / marketing
system, which are needed in order to develop a HACCP or HACCP-based hygiene
programme. Each member of the HACCP team may cover more than one area of
expertise according to their technical background and professional experience.

Team dynamics
It is important to bear in mind the need for efficient team dynamics. A large
number of team members could easily lead to regular absences at team
meetings which can obviously retard team discussions and decisions on tasks
that have been assigned to the various team members. Many areas of expertise
outlined above may only be required to advise on specific areas and suitable
experts can be co-opted into the team for limited periods or simply consulted
periodically.

Access to expertise
Access to the expertise necessary to develop sound HACCP programmes is one of
the main limitations facing many small-scale food enterprises in developing
countries. As discussed earlier, this constraint underlines the importance of
technical assistance in this area from supporting institutions. In many coffee-
producing countries, governmental agencies have been established to provide
technical support to the industry. Some of these agencies have quite strong
academic / research traditions. Most of the core competencies required for the

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HACCP team may be found within their staff. National coffee institutions have
also other opportunities for accessing the required expertise:

(cid:131) Their position within the government can often facilitate access to experts

in other government agencies;

(cid:131) Their position in government may also facilitate access to experts through
programmes of technical assistance from multi-lateral or bi-lateral
agencies;

(cid:131) Through their contacts with international coffee organizations – private
sector or governmental – they may be able to obtain expert advice from
time to time;

(cid:131) Their central position in the national sector should facilitate cooperation

with all stakeholders at national level.

Facilitating the work of the HACCP team:

Commitment of management is essential for the successful functioning of a
HACCP team – whether it be a team developing HACCP-based hygiene codes for
the sector, or a specific HACCP programme for a particular enterprise.

Management must ensure staff time, accountability and other resources if the
team is to execute its task in a thorough and timely fashion. If the management
successfully ‘champions’ HACCP development in the coffee sector as a national
priority, it is more likely to gain access to the resources required by the HACCP
team to do its job well. The multi-disciplinary nature of the work is most likely to
require a high level of cooperation with other organizations and institutions. The
smaller the resource base of the supporting coffee institutions, the more
important it is to mobilise a ‘national support network’ to contribute to the
development of HACCP-based food safety programmes.

Ownership of HACCP-based Programmes:

Governments certainly do have a role to play in developing HACCP-based hygiene
programmes in order to promote the production of safe coffee in their countries and
in providing direct training for stakeholders in the coffee sector. There must be no
mistaking the fact, however, that the responsibility for producing safe coffee lies
with the producer of that coffee. The coffee enterprises themselves bear the
responsibility of implementing adequate programmes of quality assurance.

Larger coffee operators (processors and exporters) are likely to have the resources
to ‘fine-tune’ model hygiene or HACCP programmes to suit their operations and
existing management systems. In building programmes of assistance to the smallest
of the operators, supporting agencies need to be aware of the constraints that these
operators face, and help them develop programmes that the operators can
realistically implement. Sensitivity to the constraints facing small-scale operators
means that HACCP teams must invest considerable time and effort to simplify the
food safety management requirements while maintaining adequate control of all
potential hazards.

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