What makes a step a CCP — and what does not
The formal Codex Alimentarius definition of a CCP is: a step in the process at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level. The key word is "essential." Not every step where something could go wrong is a CCP — only the steps where loss of control would result in an unacceptable food safety risk with no subsequent step to correct the problem.
The five most common CCPs in Sydney food service operations
CCP 1: Cooking — the thermal kill step
For any food service business cooking raw or partially-cooked animal products, the cooking step is almost always a CCP. Critical limit: For poultry, ≥75°C core temperature for a minimum of 15 seconds. Monitoring: Core temperature measured with a calibrated thermocouple probe at the thickest point of each cooking batch. Corrective action: If temperature not achieved — return product to heat source, re-cook until 75°C achieved. If re-cooking is not possible, quarantine and discard.
CCP 2: Cooling — the most overlooked food service CCP
Incorrect cooling is consistently identified as one of the most significant contributing factors in food poisoning outbreaks in Australian food service. Clostridium perfringens — responsible for a significant proportion of catering-related food poisoning outbreaks in Australia — can reach dangerous concentrations in slowly-cooled bulk food within hours.
Critical limit: Food must be cooled from 60°C to 21°C within two hours, then from 21°C to 5°C within the following four hours. This is a two-stage limit — both stages must be met. Monitoring: Temperature recorded at the two-hour mark. Shallow containers (≤10cm deep) and ice baths used to accelerate cooling where blast chiller is not available.
CCP 3: Cold storage — maintaining the temperature barrier
Critical limit: ≤5°C. AMES Food Advisory recommends setting a target of 3°C or below for refrigeration units, with 5°C as the action limit. This buffer accounts for temperature variation and door openings during busy service.
CCP 4: Hot holding — the bain-marie problem
Critical limit: ≥60°C throughout the product. The most common failure: bain-maries loaded with food that has not been pre-heated above 60°C before loading — the bain-marie maintains temperature but cannot raise it.
CCP 5: Receiving — the first line of defence
Critical limit: Cold product received at ≤5°C. Frozen product received hard-frozen with no evidence of thaw-refreeze. Products outside these limits must be rejected with a supplier non-conformance raised.
Prerequisite Programs vs CCPs — the critical distinction
Not every food safety control measure is a CCP. Prerequisite Programs (PRPs) are the baseline food safety practices that apply across the entire operation — cleaning and sanitation, pest control, personal hygiene, allergen management, equipment maintenance. PRPs manage general food safety conditions; CCPs manage specific, critical hazard control points within the process.
Our HACCP Plan Development service identifies your actual CCPs through a site visit and systematic hazard analysis. View our fixed-price packages.