The early space vehicles were small and there was room for neither standard kitchen appliances - refrigerator, stove, freezer – nor the pantry, cupboards and countertop commonly used for the storage and preparation of foods.
The HACCP system known today took form at the 1971 National Conference on Food Protection. The Pillsbury Company first used HACCP for the assurance of the safety of food intended for the US Space Program.
Pillsbury had previously concluded that standard quality control method were not reliable enough to bring close to 100 percent assurance that food used for the space program would be free from food borne hazards, particularly bacterial or viral hazard.
By systematically evaluating the ingredients, environs, and processes used to fabricate a food, indentifying areas of potential risk, and determining the critical control points the manufacturer would the assurance of process and product integrity.
HACCP emerged as a better approach to food safety than end-product testing because of the large number of samples needed to provide confidence in the final product.
The first comprehensive treatise on HACCP, published in 1973 by the Pillsbury Company, as used to train FDA inspectors in HACCP principles during promulgation of the successful federal mandatory regulations for canned acidified and low-acidified foods packed in hermetically sealed containers.
In the 1980’s, HACCP approach was adopted by other major food manufacturing companies.
History of HACCP
