Q. What sort of food business is MyHACCP suitable for?
A. MyHACCP was produced to help small food manufacturing businesses but the principles of HACCP are very generic and the tool may also be useful to other types of businesses in other food sectors. If your food production processes are simple, as in most retail outlets such as restaurants, cafes and sandwich bars for example – you are likely to find that the Food Standards Agency’s Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) (developed for use in England and Wales) and Safe Catering (developed for use in Northern Ireland) packs provide a simpler approach that may meet your needs.
If you feel that you are using more complex manufacturing processes or, for example, producing products from higher risk ingredients that will not be consumed immediately, we hope that you will find MyHACCP useful – it will help you produce a more sophisticated and documented HACCP based food safety management system.
Q. I just want to use part of MyHACCP – can I do this?
A. Yes you can – it could be that you have already produced most of your documented HACCP based controls and you want to use part of the MyHACCP tool to help you along. You may also browse the supporting MyHACCP help and guidance or simply download some of the useful document templates.
Q. Will completing MyHACCP mean that I am complying with legislation?
A. Not automatically, MyHACCP will lead you in a structured way through the analysis of hazards associated with your products and help you document your controls in a systematic manner. The quality of your HACCP based controls will depend on what you have input and the effectiveness of the controls will depend on how well you implement and maintain them. We are confident that following the MyHACCP tool format will lead you towards establishing a robust food safety management system and being able to display compliance with the requirement in food law for you to have a HACCP based food safety management system.
Q. I have more than one product and need to carry out more than one study – can I do this?
A. Yes you can – simply start another study for the next product line – if the general information about your business that you entered for the first study is the same then skip those sections and enter the information that relates to the product.
Q. Can I amend the HACCP plan that I have produced?
A. Yes – simply log in to the MyHACCP tool, select the relevant study and amend the details that you previously entered.
Q. How long will my HACCP plan be held online by the FSA?
A. Your completed plan and any studies that you have saved will be held for 36 months from the date of completion.
Q. Why do you need my email address?
A. If you have password problems or need to reset your password MyHACCP will need to send a communication to your email address.
Q. Who do I contact for help using the website?
A. Please contact the MyHACCP team at the following email address:
Q. Who can help me develop the content of my HACCP based food safety management system?
A. We would like to think that you could develop most, if not all, of your documented HACCP based controls yourself by using MyHACCP. However, many food businesses get good advice from trade and industry associations or the food safety officer from their local council. Other businesses seek the advice of independent food safety consultants.
Q. Will the MyHACCP tool do everything that I need to develop my HACCP plan?
A. MyHACCP aims to take you through the HACCP process in a systematic manner, saving you the effort of having to research how to construct a documented food safety management system and produce the associated documents – this should save you a great deal of time. But MyHACCP cannot do the thinking that you need to do – you know your product, process and intended customer. At some stages in the MyHACCP tool you will need to log off and for example – create a simple flow chart of your manufacturing process or do some thinking about the types of hazards that are present and the food safety controls required.
Q. How long will it take to work through MyHACCP?
A. This will depend on a number of factors including your knowledge of HACCP based controls, the complexity of your product and process, the number of products you have. We are confident though that MyHACCP will save you time by guiding you through the process of producing HACCP based controls in an easy and systematic manner, providing you with useful guidance and template documents along the way.
Q. Where can I find additional information to help me complete my HACCP based food safety management system?
A. MyHACCP has on screen help and links to additional information if you require more in depth support or clarification. There are also other useful weblinks to more information.
Q. Do I have to use the MyHACCP tool?
A. No, you do not. We have produced this free to use tool because research showed that many small food manufacturing businesses struggled in terms of resource or technical capability to pull together all of the information that they needed to produce a robust documented HACCP based food safety management system. Other tools and people with HACCP expertise could help you to produce HACCP based controls for your business.