How to Write a Risk Profile for Your Food Safety System

What is a Risk Profile?

When you prepare a HACCP plan, it is mandatory to consider risk profiles of the possible microbes, fungus, virus toxins, physical objects, chemical contaminants etc. However, it is not that easy to prepare a risk profile, because you need to study the possible risk factors and need to collect all the available and reliable published data about the list you have summarized from your hazard identification. The risk profile is called a written description of a set of risks where a risk profile can include the risks that the entire organization must manage or only those that a particular function or part of the organization must address. Risk is often measured in terms of risk probability or the likelihood that a risk will occur and risk impact which is a measure of the consequences. Risk analysis is a process that is used to understand the nature, sources, and causes of the risks that you have identified and to estimate the level of risk. It is also used to study impacts and consequences and to examine the controls that currently exist. How detailed your risk analysis ought to be will depend upon the risk, the purpose of the analysis, the information you have, and the resources available.

Hazard identification is the first step of the work and then you need to start collecting data where you can run your hazard analysis based on these initial facts. But when you realize your real hazard which you are going to control through your critical control points; you need to document their basic facts as a summery sheet while considering the most important and critical facts which are necessary to control them as well as to educate your food safety team and the entire work force. It is also good point, if you can disseminate those basic data to your consumers, because certain products are semi processed or raw at the time of selling and your consumer has to carry out the final preparations before eating. Thus it is better to educate them on the critical control points of the processing methods (i.e. if it is cooking, you can provide the final temperature that product must reach) and why this is important. If you also provide the right information, consumer may be able to understand the severity of a certain toxin or a microbe and they will start looking for the properly prepared foods, which may be an opportunity for the manufacturer to show his dedication to the clients.

On the other hand, you don’t need to document all the data collected for the hazard analysis or whatever available, instead you can write down a small summary about a particular contaminant and its basic information everybody needs to understand. This will give you a pretty good idea of the risk involved and the criticality.

The following example can be considered as a little guide to what you need to consider, but it is not a comprehensive risk profile. The risk profile was written considering the orthodox black tea manufacturing process where focus is tea related risk identification.

Risk Profile – E. coli

Introduction

Escherichia coli are in the family Enterobacteriaceae, gram negative, rod shaped, non-spore forming, and motile or non-motile. They can grow under aerobic and anaerobic conditions where grow best at 37⁰C. Therefore it is easy to eradicate by simple boiling or basic sterilization. 

E. coli O157:H7 is a well-studied strain of the bacterium E. coli, which produces Shiga-like toxins, causing severe illness. E. coli is transmitted to humans primarily through consumption of contaminated foods, faecal contamination of water and other foods. Infectious dose of E. Coli is 10⁶ - 10⁸ logs of organisms.

The tea leaves are plucked and heaped on the floor or in the field and transported to the factory with high risk of contamination or cross contamination from humans due to handling. The raw material further directly handled by many operators during withering, rolling, fermentation, sifting and packing, which increase the risk of E. coli infection. Hence, there is a risk for E. coli contamination in the product due to poor personal hygiene and improper cleaning of utensils. Luckily the organism’s heat sensitivity makes it possible to eliminate with LTHT treatment. The severity of the disease in combination with the risk makes E. coli a hazard to target in the HACCP plan.

Disease, Symptoms and Onset  

Symptoms include abdominal cramps and diarrhea, fever and vomiting may also occur. The incubation period can range from three to eight days, with a median of three to four days. Most patients recover within 10 days, but infection may lead to a life-threatening disease, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Main Disease Factor

Commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms).

Source

E. coli is almost exclusively of faecal origin and it is transmitted through faecal contamination of foods and water, as well as cross-contamination, or by direct human contact during food preparation.  

Transmission

E. coli is transmitted to humans primarily through consumption of contaminated foods such as faecal contamination of water, as well as cross-contamination during food preparation (contaminated surfaces and utensils). Waterborne transmission has been reported, both from contaminated drinking-water and from recreational waters. Person-to-person contact is an important mode of transmission through the oral-faecal route.

Characteristics

E Coli can grow in temperatures ranging from 7°C to 50°C. Some EHEC can grow in acidic foods, down to a pH of 4.4, and in foods with a minimum water activity (Aw) of 0.95. It is destroyed by thorough cooking of foods until all parts reach a temperature of 70°C or higher.