Food Safety Enhancement Program Manual

Glossary of Terms

Agency (the)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Agri-food product

Any meat, fruit, vegetable, egg, dairy, honey or maple product which is canned, cooked, dehydrated, refrigerated or otherwise preserved.

Auditor

A person, identified by the CFIA, who has the qualifications to perform regulatory system audits.

Audit checklist

A tool prepared by the auditor(s), listing items that the audit will assess to determine whether the written program is being implemented as described, and whether it is effective.

Audit finding

The results of the evaluation, against FSEP audit criteria, objective evidence collected during an audit.

Audit frequency

The rate at which regulatory system audits are to be conducted.

Audit observation

A deviation that is identified during an audit but has no impact on the integrity of the HACCP system. An audit observation does not necessitate a written corrective action plan.

Audit team

A group of auditors including at least the lead auditor and the inspector responsible for conducting the audit.

Closed CAR

A Corrective action request (CAR) that has been closed by the Agency. The Agency closes a CAR after determining that an establishment's action plan to correct the pertinent non-conformity is completed and the corrective actions are effective.

Codex Alimentarius) Commission

A subsidiary body of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization of the United Nations.

Company

See "Establishment".

Corrective Action Request (CAR)

A formal request, made by the Agency to the company's management, that sets out actions required to correct a non-conformity identified during an audit.

Critical Control Point (CCP)

A point, step or procedure at or in which control can be applied and a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level.

Critical limit

A criterion that separates acceptability from unacceptability.

Deviation

A failure to meet required limits for a critical control point, or a failure to meet a standard identified in a prerequisite program.

Deviation procedure

A pre-determined and documented set of corrective actions (immediate and preventive) which are implemented when a deviation occurs.

Establishment

A CFIA registered company, plant or manufacturer that processes agri-food products (meat and poultry, dairy, processed fruit and vegetables, shell eggs, processed eggs, honey, and maple). Hatcheries are considered establishments.

Establishment HACCP coordinator

An employee responsible for liaising between the company's senior management and its HACCP team. The coordinator leads in developing, implementing and maintaining the company's HACCP system.

Follow-up regulatory system audit

An audit performed subsequent to the completion of a regulatory system audit, when a major non-conformity cannot be closed.

Food Safety Enhancement Program

A CFIA approach to encourage the development, implementation and maintenance of HACCP systems in all federally registered establishments, excluding federally registered fish establishments.

Generic model

See HACCP generic model.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)

A systematic approach to identifying and assessing hazards and risks associated with a food operation and defining the means of their control.

HACCP generic model

A generalized HACCP plan, designed for a specific product or product category, that can be used as an example or guideline for developing a plant-specific HACCP plan.

HACCP plan

A written document designed in accordance with the 12 steps of FSEP (including the 7 principles of HACCP as described by Codex Alimentarius) in order to control hazards associated with specific processes and/or products within an establishment.

HACCP system (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System)

A system that includes prerequisite programs, one or more HACCP plan(s), and reassessment procedures as defined by the Food Safety Enhancement Program (FSEP).

HACCP system maintenance procedure

A company's review of its HACCP system to ensure that any routine updates or other changes (e.g. to meet regulatory requirements, improve operations or processes, add new products, etc.) have been fully analysed and are implemented effectively.

HACCP team

A group of employees, representing such areas as production, sanitation, quality control, food microbiology, etc., within a company, who are responsible for assisting the HACCP coordinator in developing, implementing and maintaining the HACCP System.

Hazard

A condition or circumstance having the potential to cause harm. Hazards can be biological, chemical or physical.

Immediate impact on food safety

A situation where a biological, chemical or physical contamination of a food product exists, resulting in the need for immediate corrective and/or compliance action. This action may include detention of product and/or initiation of a recall procedure.

Kill step

Any step in a process that provides a sufficient level of intervention to control microbiological organisms and/or destroy the identified pathogens.

Lead auditor

The auditor responsible to leading the audit and make final decisions regarding the outcome of the audit.

Major non-conformity

An incident putting food safety at risk, where the establishment has not taken effective corrective action and the CFIA takes regulatory compliance action on the product or where the establishment has failed to implement effective corrective action from a previously identified non-conformity.

Manufacturer

See "Establishment.".

Monitoring

The act (by company personnel) of conducting a planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a CCP and/or a sub-element of a prerequisite program is under control. This includes recording the results of those observations.

Non-conformity (N/C)

A non-conformity is a deviation identified during an audit that has an impact on the integrity of the HACCP system and necessitates a written corrective action plan.

Objective evidence

Factual and verifiable information describing an audit finding. This may include photocopies of documents, notes made as a result of observations and interviews, etc..

Organoleptic examination

An examination involving the use of the sensory organs in evaluating foods (taste, colour, odour, and feel).

Prerequisite program

Universal steps or procedures that control the operational conditions within a food establishment, and promote environmental conditions that are favourable for the production of safe food.

Preventive measure

A corrective action resulting from an investigation to determine the cause of a deviation. A preventive measure includes subsequent steps required to prevent reoccurrence of the deviation.

Quality Management Program (QMP)

A fish inspection and control system that includes procedures, inspections and records, for the purpose of verifying and documenting the processing of fish and the safety and quality of fish processed in Canada.

Reassessment of a HACCP system

A company's review of its HACCP system to ensure that any routine updates or other changes (e.g. to meet regulatory requirements, improve operations or processes, add new products, etc.) have been fully analyzed and are being implemented effectively.

Regulatory requirements

All pertinent acts, regulations, manuals of procedures and directives.

Regulatory system audit

A systematic assessment by the CFIA of an establishment's ongoing conformance to its recognized HACCP system.

Responsible Inspector

A CFIA-designated inspector who is responsible for inspecting a federally registered establishment.

Risk

An estimate of the likely occurrence of a hazard.

Standard

Criteria or specifications that can be judged or evaluated and define the limit of acceptability associated with prerequisite programs and/or Regulatory Action Point (RAP).

Validation

The obtaining of evidence showing that control measures are capable of being consistently effective. Validation is performed when new control measures or a new food safety control system is designed, or when changes indicate the need for re-validation, in order to confirm that the control measures or food safety control systems, when implemented as intended, are capable of controlling the hazard to the appropriate level and that this level of control can be achieved consistently.

Verification

A company's use of methods, procedures, tests and other evaluations, in addition to monitoring, to determine its conformance to and the effectiveness of its HACCP system.

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