Food Safety Glossary

One of the fourteen substances that must be declared under Regulation (EU) 1169/2011. Undeclared allergens are the leading cause of food recalls in the UK and Ireland. See allergen management.

The traceability obligation in Regulation (EC) 178/2002. Every food business must be able to identify who supplied them and who they supplied. See what Article 18 requires.

The withdrawal and notification obligation. If you believe food you placed on the market is unsafe you must withdraw it and inform the competent authority.

A systematic assessment against a defined standard, carried out by a certification body you appoint. Distinct from an EHO inspection. See how to pass one.

An identifier assigned to a production run, linking the ingredients consumed to the finished product. The single most important link in a traceability chain.

Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards, formerly the British Retail Consortium. Issue 9 of the Food Safety standard is currently in force. See what it requires.

Critical Control Point. A step where control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a hazard to an acceptable level. See identifying CCPs.

The international food standards collection maintained by the WHO and FAO. The seven HACCP principles come from it.

An action or activity used to prevent or eliminate a hazard, or reduce it to an acceptable level.

The pre planned response when a critical limit is breached. Covers both the affected product and the process change that stops it recurring.

A measurable value separating acceptable from unacceptable at a CCP. In Ireland and the UK, 75°C for cooking and 63°C for hot holding. See the full set.

Transfer of pathogens or allergens from one food, surface or person to another. See raw and ready to eat separation.

Roughly 8°C to 63°C, where bacteria multiply. Chilled food may be held outside temperature control for a single period of up to four hours.

The sequence of questions used to determine whether a process step is a CCP or a prerequisite.

The defence in food law that you took all reasonable precautions. In practice it means records, which is why retrieval matters more than existence.

Environmental Health Officer. Carries out statutory inspections, employed by local authorities in the UK and by the HSE on behalf of the FSAI in Ireland.

A pathogen with a very low infectious dose, which is why raw and ready to eat separation is scrutinised so heavily in butchery.

Food Business Operator. The person or company legally responsible for compliance. If you produce, process, distribute or sell food, that is you.

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Rates UK businesses 0 to 5 on hygiene compliance, structural compliance and confidence in management. Display is mandatory in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Whether food safety is understood by the people doing the work rather than recited from a folder. Now scored at inspection and explicit in BRCGS. See how it is assessed.

Food Standards Agency. Sets food safety policy and standards for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. See UK food safety law.

Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Established under the FSAI Act 1998, it sets standards and takes enforcement action. See who enforces what.

Food Standards Scotland. Performs the FSA role in Scotland, with its own hygiene information scheme.

The point of delivery, where supplier, batch code, use by date and temperature are recorded. A decision point, because product out of temperature is rejected here or not at all.

Good Manufacturing Practice. The baseline operating conditions expected of a food business, sitting alongside prerequisite programmes.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. A preventive system built on seven principles. Required of every food business operator in Ireland and the UK since 2006. See the seven principles.

Production zones with enhanced controls, applying where ready to eat product is handled. Section 8 of BRCGS Issue 9.

Holding cooked food at 63°C or above for the whole service period. If you have seen 57°C quoted, that is the FDA figure and does not apply here.

An international food safety management system standard, incorporating HACCP within a wider management framework.

A pathogen that grows at refrigeration temperatures, which is why chilled storage is not a safe harbour for ready to eat product.

Reconciling ingredient quantity received against quantity used and dispatched. Auditors use it to test whether your records describe what actually happened.

A practice traceability exercise. Pick a batch, trace both ways, reconcile quantities, and time it. Run two a year. See recalls and withdrawals.

The Food Information (Amendment) Regulations, in force in the UK since October 2021, requiring PPDS food to carry a full ingredient list with allergens emphasised.

A departure from a requirement, raised at audit or found internally. Needs a root cause, a corrective action, and evidence it was implemented.

Prepacked for Direct Sale. Food packed on the premises it is sold from, before the customer orders it. Made to order is not PPDS. See PPDS labelling explained.

Statements such as may contain. Voluntary, with no legal threshold behind it, and not a substitute for control.

The operating conditions that make safe production possible: cleaning, pest control, staff hygiene, maintenance, supplier approval. Not CCPs. See the 4 C's.

Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. Notifies EU member states when a risk crosses borders.

Retrieving product that has already reached consumers. Requires public notification, and is the more serious of the two responses.

The General Food Law. Establishes EFSA, general principles, and the traceability and withdrawal duties.

The hygiene regulation. Requires every food business operator to maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles.

Food information to consumers. Covers labelling and the fourteen declarable allergens.

Safe and Local Supplier Approval. A certification scheme designed for smaller producers supplying regional and independent retail.

The European Communities (Hygiene of Foodstuffs) Regulations 2006, which give effect to the EU hygiene rules in Ireland.

Verifying that suppliers meet your food safety requirements. The most common route to an allergen recall is a supplier reformulating and the change not reaching your label.

Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Critical Control Point. Food defence and food fraud, sitting alongside HACCP rather than inside it.

The ability to identify inputs and outputs at each stage. One step back, one step forward is the legal minimum. See how the chain is captured.

Evidence that a control measure is capable of achieving what it claims. Different from verification.

Evidence that the system is operating as intended: record review, internal audits, calibration, plan review.

Removing product from the supply chain before it reaches consumers. Faster traceability often decides whether you run a withdrawal or a recall.