HACCP Certification for Irish Food Businesses: Do You Actually Need It?

There is a distinction at the heart of this subject that most articles blur, and getting it straight will save you money.

A HACCP based procedure is required by law. Every food business operator in Ireland must have one under the European Communities (Hygiene of Foodstuffs) Regulations 2006, S.I. No. 369 of 2006, which give effect to Regulation (EC) 852/2004.

HACCP certification is not required by law. It is a voluntary third party assessment, and it is required by your customers rather than by the State. Nobody will prosecute you for lacking certification. Tesco may decline to list you.

This article covers what certification actually is, who asks for it, what the process involves, and how to decide whether you need it.

What HACCP certification actually is

Certification is formal recognition by an independent certification body that your business has implemented an effective food safety management system based on HACCP principles.

The process involves a thorough assessment of your HACCP plan, of how it is implemented on the floor, and of its ongoing effectiveness in controlling hazards. An auditor examines documentation, observes processes and interviews staff.

What you get is not a better food safety system. You already had to have one. What you get is independent evidence that you have one, in a form a buyer will accept.

Who actually asks for it

This is the commercial argument, and it is more persuasive than any list of general benefits.

Major retailers and foodservice operators require HACCP certification, or a GFSI recognised scheme built on HACCP, from their suppliers as a condition of listing:

• Tesco, operating across the UK and Ireland, requires certification from suppliers and audits against its own food safety policy
• Aldi runs a supplier approval process that assesses the food safety management system, including HACCP documentation and implementation
• Lidl requires certification and monitors supplier performance through regular audits
• Sodexo, serving schools, hospitals and corporate catering, requires it of food suppliers
• Compass Group assesses the supplier food safety management system as part of approval
• McDonald’s operates a strict supplier quality management system with regular audits

If none of your customers ask for certification, you may not need it. If you are trying to move from independent retail into the multiples, or to export into the EU, you almost certainly do.

Certification against a scheme

In practice most buyers do not ask for bare HACCP certification. They ask for certification against a scheme that has HACCP inside it:

Ask the customer you are trying to win which scheme they accept before you buy anything. Certifying against the wrong one is an expensive way to learn. BRCGS is the one most often named for manufactured product, and we cover what Issue 9 requires separately.

How the process works

1. Develop the HACCP plan. Identify hazards, establish critical control points, set critical limits, and define monitoring, corrective action and verification procedures for each. This is the part that takes the longest and matters the most.
2. Implement it. A plan on a shelf fails an audit. Implementation means staff training, record keeping and monitoring actually happening, day after day, with evidence.
3. Choose a certification body. Accredited for your scope, with experience in your sector. Compare more than price.
4. Consider a pre assessment. Many bodies offer one. It identifies gaps before the audit that counts, which is usually cheaper than failing.
5. Undergo the certification audit. The auditor reviews documentation, observes processes and interviews staff. Expect a timed traceability exercise.
6. Address non conformities. Almost every first audit raises some. Corrective action and evidence of implementation, then the certificate issues.
7. Maintain it. Certification typically runs one to three years depending on the body and scheme, with surveillance audits annually or half yearly in between.

What it takes to keep

Certification is not an event. It is an ongoing commitment, and the surveillance audit is where businesses come unstuck, because the plan was written for the initial audit and nothing has been reviewed since. Pizza Sorrento went from paper to fully digital in four weeks and achieved BRC AA accreditation afterwards.

Maintaining it means:

• Reviewing the HACCP plan at least annually, and whenever a process, product or supplier changes
• Running internal audits and acting on what they find
• Keeping monitoring records complete, with no unexplained gaps
• Keeping training records current as staff turn over
• Calibrating measuring equipment and recording it

Is it worth it?

Honestly, it depends on who you sell to.

If you supply the multiples, foodservice contractors or export markets, certification is the price of entry and the question is only which scheme. If you are a single site café or a shop selling direct to the public, your legal obligation is a HACCP based procedure and an Environmental Health Officer who can see it working. Certification adds cost without adding a customer.

The businesses that regret it are the ones who certified because it sounded responsible, rather than because a buyer asked.

Whichever way you go, the underlying obligation is the same: a documented plan and the records that evidence it. Start with identifying your critical control points, and see how other Irish and UK businesses handled it.

Frequently asked questions