What is a corrective action in food safety?

A corrective action is a pre-planned response to a food safety failure — specifically, when a Critical Control Point (CCP) is found to be outside its critical limits. Corrective actions are the 5th principle of HACCP and are a mandatory component of any Food Safety Program under Standard 3.2.1 of the Food Standards Code.

When is a corrective action required?

A corrective action is required whenever monitoring shows that a CCP is out of control. Examples include:

Cooked chicken found at an internal temperature of 68°C (below the 75°C critical limit)
Cool room temperature recorded at 9°C (above the 5°C critical limit)
Sanitiser concentration tested at below the required ppm

What does a corrective action involve?

An effective corrective action addresses two things:

Immediate action on the affected product: Recook the chicken to 75°C; assess food in the failed cool room using the 2-hour/4-hour rule; discard where necessary
Root cause and recurrence prevention: Why did the failure occur? Was the cooking time inadequate? Is the cool room compressor faulty? What will be done to prevent recurrence?

Documentation requirements

Every corrective action must be documented — who identified the problem, what the deviation was, what immediate action was taken on the product, what root cause was identified, and what was done to prevent recurrence. Corrective action records are one of the first things an auditor will request.

AMES Food Advisory helps businesses design practical corrective action procedures and build the record-keeping habits that satisfy auditors.