HACCP: Principle 4 - Establish Monitoring Procedures

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Monitoring is a planned sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a critical control point (CCP) is under control and to produce an accurate record for future use in verification.

Monitoring serves three main purposes:

It is essential to food safety management in that it facilitates tracking of the operation. If monitoring indicates that there is a trend towards loss of control, then action can be taken to bring the process back into control before a deviation from a critical limit occurs.

It is used to determine when there is a loss of control and a deviation occurs at a CCP. When a deviation occurs, an appropriate corrective action must be taken.

It provides written documentation for use in verification. Ideally, monitoring should be continuous, which is possible with many types of physical and chemical methods (i.e. temperature or pH levels). Most monitoring procedures need to be rapid because they relate to on-line "real time" processes and there will be no time for lengthy analytical testing.

Personnel responsible for the monitoring process are often associated with production (i.e. line supervisor, selected line workers), quality control or maintenance personnel. They must be trained in the monitoring technique for which they are responsible, fully understand the purpose and importance of monitoring, be unbiased in monitoring and reporting, and accurately report the results of the monitoring.

Other Documents in the Series

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
HACCP: Principle 1 - Conduct a Hazard Analysis
HACCP: Principle 2 - Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs)
HACCP: Principle 3 - Establish Critical Limits
HACCP: Principle 4 - Establish Monitoring Procedures - Current Document
HACCP: Principle 5 - Establish Corrective Actions
HACCP: Principle 6 - Establish Verification Procedures
HACCP: Principle 7 - Establish Record Keeping and Documentation Procedures

For more information about the content of this document, contact Claude Baker.
This document is maintained by Amrit Matharu.
This information published to the web on June 17, 2002.
Last Reviewed/Revised on April 1, 2015.