Again, a CCP is a point in your on-farm operation that is critical to food safety. If you neglect to do a particular action or make an error at this particular point, there will be irreversible problems with the end food product.

Here are the CCPs that have been identified:

• during medicated feed storage, processing, mixing and feeding, cross-contamination of medicated feeds to non-medicated feeds

• feeding the wrong medicated feed or medicated water to the wrong cattle

• during processing and treating, improper injection technique leading to broken needles in muscle

• during processing and treating, failure to follow drug label directions or veterinary prescriptions for off-label use, resulting in insufficient meat withdrawal periods

• shipping cattle prior to the drug withdrawal period.

The irreversible damage that can be done to the safety of meat if one of the CCPs 1–5 is neglected can take several forms, among them:

• drug residues in meat that can’t be removed

• broken needles in cattle that pose a human health risk and erode consumer confidence.

None of these situations can be “ fixed” once the hazard has occurred. That is why the HACCP-based approach, with its identified CCPs, is essential.

Making HACCP Work

Making the Quality Starts Here: Verified Beef Production Program work in your beef operation will require:

• an honest, critical assessment of your beef cattle operation

• time to review your operating procedures and make adjustments, if necessary, to reduce food safety risks

• a practical and reliable record-keeping system that verifies your Good Production Practices

• a training program for your family members and staff to follow this HACCP-based on-farm food safety system

• an ongoing commitment to safety, quality and continuous improvement.