It wasn't that the Owner was doing anything wrong, it was more a case of the officer having a fear of the unknown, as she did not understand the products nor the science behind what made them safe.
The products in question were cured, fermented and air dried meats which were classified as ready to eat, although they had never received a heat treatment.
As the saying goes, "There are more ways to skin a cat" and indeed, there are also more ways of killing pathogenic bacteria than heat alone....
Fermented and air dried meats have been safely produced for centuries, particularly in regions where the climate is warmer than the UK. They could almost be classified as "Safe by Tradition"
The procedures being used by the food business owner were pretty much ideal for producing a safe product, however this needed to be justified in the HACCP plan.
And that is what we did. We didn't specifically change any of the processes, we merely described in the HACCP plan, how the processes controlled the risk.
Although this work was very specialised, don't forget, we have also prepared a generic HACCP plan which is ideal for catering establishment. Its is easy to use and is robust proof of Due Diligence It is entitled "Our Kitchen Rules" and is always available to purchase by emailing artisanfood.angel@gmail.com
