An evaluation of process specific information resources, aimed at hazard analysis,in Small and Medium Enterprises in food manufacturing
Author
Fielding, Louise
Ellis, Leanne
Clayton, Debbie
Peters, Adrian C.
Date
2011Type
Article
Publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
0956-7135
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Food borne illness continues to be a major global concern, with approximately 76 million cases in the US
and 70,000 in the UK annually. The adoption of a food safety management system based upon Codex
HACCP principles became a legal requirement in the UK on January 1st 2006 but some companies are
inexperienced and fail to implement it correctly. Barriers to HACCP include time, money and expertise,
particularly for SMEs and microbusinesses. Lack of expertise is a particular problem when constructing
the hazard analysis component of HACCP. A sector specific information resource, using simple language
with no technical terms or jargon, was developed to assist SMEs with hazard analysis. One hundred and
twenty three SME food manufacturers were recruited and intervention and control groups were
assigned, with the intervention group receiving the resource. Evaluation visits were performed after four
months. Each company was assessed against a specific tool that determined knowledge, behavior and
attitude to food safety. The resource was well received but there was no significant improvement in
knowledge, behavior or attitude when comparing the intervention and control group scores. Significant
differences in the behavior of SMEs and microbusinesses were evident with SMEs scoring higher in all
sections of the resource than the microbusinesses. SMEs also had a significantly higher total knowledge
score than microbusinesses but there were no significant differences in attitudes. It is apparent action
must be taken to assist SMEs with hazard analysis and full HACCP implementation, but provision of
a single resource without additional support is not enough. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Journal/conference proceeding
Food Control;
Citation
Food Control 22 (2011) 1171-1177
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