Investigation of the factors influencing successful implementation of HACCP systems in meat processing SMEs in the UK

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system is widelyaccepted by the majority of the food industries as a straightforward andeconomical approach which can ensure the reduction of food poisoningincidents. Review of the relevant literature shows an increasing interest in the1980's and 1990's from governments in the adherence of HACCP-basedsystems into legislation and food inspection programmes.Many countries have since incorporated the HACCP principles in theirnational food safety regulatory issues. In the United Kingdom meat industry,HACCP has been developed most successfully to large-scale enterprises. Onthe other hand, HACCP implementation was less effective in small andmedium sized businesses (SMEs) and this phenomenon has been attributed toinsufficient financial and technical resources and purchasing power, and a lackof available personnel. However, there are also many examples of theimplementation of the HACCP system in SMEs particularly related with meatprocessing.The case study method was used to conduct research in two meat processingSMEs along with participant observation of the implementation of the sevenprinciples of the HACCP system. During this research, the contribution of theHACCP system towards the production of safe meat products was identified.In addition, the constraints encountered by the meat processing premisesduring the application of the HACCP system on site were examined.The findings of the research and the observation were compared with therelevant literature in order to identify the consistencies and the deficiencies ofthe food safety systems applied. Furthermore, the research findings were usedto identify similarities and differences between the practices applied by eachone of them. Finally, the research data were checked for compliance with the research model set to identify the interaction of various factors towards theappropriate implementation of the HACCP system. Several conclusions weredrawn from these comparisons and topics for further research wererecommended