What is HACCP? It stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, and is basically related to hygiene issues in the foodservice industry.
That's what the 3-hour seminar we had today covered. We went through some of the major safe food handling techniques and the critical control points. Being a foodie, I've always been quite conscious of food hygiene issues, but this seminar made me even more aware of issues re: food poisoning, because it can destroy a chef's career just like that. Things like sanitation controls, preventing cross-contaminations, temperature control (this was a big discussion point in our seminar), food storage issues, and so on were discussed.
The Canadian food industry had a major crisis recently, with dozens of people sick and 15 people reportedly dying from listeriosis food poisoning. The Maple Leaf Foods Inc. was apparently accountable for the recent outbreak of listeriosis - samples of their deli meats tested positive for the strain(s) of listeriosis that killed those people. I heard this on the news about a week after I arrived in Canada, and it really had me worried.
After attending the seminar on HACCP today, I realise how critical it is to not only put in place a system of safe food handling, but also provide adequate training for food handlers.
I suppose we should always be vigilant. Better to be safe than sorry.
