In 1998 the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods defined a CCP as “a step at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.” Associated with each CCP is a critical limit (CL). A critical limit is a maximum and/or minimum value to which a biological, chemical, or physical activity must be controlled to control a food safety hazard. However, many companies have target values that are stricter than their critical limit. Let’s consider the critical limit vs. a target limit scenario in the thermal processing (cooking) step.
In the thermal processing step one of the things we are doing is controlling bacteria. Bacteria are small living things that cannot be seen by the naked eye. They are also referred to as microorganisms. Some bacteria are harmful while some are actually beneficial. Good bacteria are essential to the manufacture of cheese, yogurt, summer sausage and numerous other food products. Unfortunately, other bacteria are responsible for foodborne illness and spoilage of food. Bacteria that represent a health hazard are called pathogens. Spoilage bacteria cause food to spoil and decay. They cause meat to get slimy and develop a bad odor. They do not represent a health hazard; rather, they are associated with the economic loss when a food spoils.