HACCP-Software

During the initial HACCP risk analysis, chemical, human, biological / microbiological, or physical hazards are identified. The software already supports you in this first step by providing you with a dynamic knowledge base in which all hazards previously identified in other or similar products or processes are available for selection in a hazard catalogue. Instead of starting from scratch with each analysis, you can directly access previous knowledge and use all of your companys existing production experience. This includes information from supplier management, complaints processing, or employee training. Thanks to these networked areas of information, the software makes it much easier for you to find out whether a potential hazard is caused by the raw material purchased from the supplier, inadequately trained personnel, or a faulty production step.

CAQ AGs HACCP-Software contains an interactive HACCP decision tree according to the Codex Alimentarius for the implementation of hazard assessments. It guides you through five questions for each product or product group and each process step, where potential hazards were identified.

This is followed by the specification, documentation, and monitoring of the respective measures. Because experience from previous analyses is directly available, the software’s knowledge base once again plays out a decisive strength compared to a paper-based system. Said knowledge base also includes company knowledge regarding the definition of critical control limits or the specification and implementation of effective inspection and safety measures. If a particular hazard was identified at a production step in the past and a suitable control mechanism was already set up previously, the corresponding pairing of applicable hazard and measure is directly available for selection in the knowledge base.

The monitoring of initiated measures is also performed directly in the CAQ.Net HACCP-Software. Whether the regular measurement of pH values, the inspection of metal detectors, or the final product inspection: inspection plans, inspection frequencies, measured values, batch information, and inspection equipment to be used are created or controlled centrally in the software. The corrective measures to be initiated in the event of deviations from predefined threshold values are also defined and monitored directly in the software.

All HACCP-relevant analyses, measures, and responsibilities must be documented consistently and securely. While documents today are often still distributed, archived, and confirmed by signature in paper form, electronic documents in combination with the CAQ.Net software offer the possibility of digitally mastering aspects such as version management, electronic confirmation, and change traceability. With regard to documents, the software also consistently fulfills requirements for access security, rights monitoring, traceability, and history management.

The topics of employee skills and training also play central roles in the context of HACCP. Chapter XII of European Regulation (EC) 852/2004, for example, requires food business operators to ensure that those employees who handle food are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters in accordance with their applicable activities. Especially the persons responsible for developing and applying hazard analysis and critical control point identification procedures must be adequately trained in all matters relating to the application of HACCP-principles.

The training management / e-learning software module of the software provides support in planning, managing, documenting, and evaluating training measures and enables the creation of e-learnings along with a qualification and training database. The integrated skills matrix, for instance, allows you to track precisely which employee requires which training in which area and when said training is due. Training courses and training templates, units of organization and qualifications, as well as documents ranging from training manuals to an individual’s place card are managed centrally in the software.

Experience shows that CAQ.Net software users achieve efficiency increases of about 30 percent in their HACCP processes and the corresponding savings in paper per year are enormous. However, it is not only the increase in efficiency that counts, because thanks to FDA-compliant electronic signatures, change control, and consistent data monitoring in the true sense of data integrity, modular and scalable software provides you with proof of safe and legally compliant business conduct. Said fully documented proof is naturally a highly convincing aspect within the context of any customer audit or official inspection.