Keeping Non-Food HACCP Current: Lessons from Recent Product-Safety Developments

Recent UK product-safety developments demonstrate why hazard analysis must extend beyond the product formulation or manufacturing process.

One chemical product was recalled after incorrect instructions stated that users should apply three tablets instead of one. The excessive dose could cause skin reactions. This shows why label content, artwork approval and final packaging checks may need to be treated as important product-safety controls.

A separate recall concerned a children’s product containing sand that may have been contaminated with asbestos. This reinforces the need to consider what a raw material could unintentionally contain, not simply its intended function. Supplier approval, specifications, traceability and risk-based verification are therefore essential parts of an effective control system.

The government has also updated the standards referenced under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Although the specific changes do not directly affect RI Training’s principal sectors, they provide a useful reminder that technical standards change.

Businesses need arrangements for identifying applicable standards, monitoring revisions and reviewing whether changes affect existing hazard assessments, specifications, testing or supplier requirements.

Together, these developments highlight three important questions:

1. Are product labels checked as carefully as the product itself?
2. Does raw-material approval consider unintended contamination?
3. Is the HACCP plan reviewed when legislation, standards or technical requirements change?

Non-food HACCP provides a structured way to identify significant hazards, establish preventive controls and verify that those controls remain suitable and effective.

RI Training provides practical non-food HACCP training tailored to an organisation’s products, processes and risks.

Further information

• Chemical-product recall
• Sand-product recall
• General product-safety standards