What is HACCP? You've all heard the phrase, "Locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen." HACCP is a systematic method for ensuring that the barn door has been locked at the right time and that the horse is inside the barn, intact and well fed.

A HACCP program to prevent horse theft, while varying slightly depending on the layout of an individual barn, would look something like this:

Finally it must be noted in this HACCP plan that things change. The thief may get faster at sneaking into the barn, or the lock might become worn or easily picked for other reasons. All of these things have to be checked from time to time to keep the horse safe.

This is only a simplified version of HACCP, but the principles are the same whether they are applied to a slaughterhouse process, a grinding process or a cooking process. HACCP is preventing the problem before it happens!