FOOD REVIEWS INTERNATIONAL, 17(1), 144 (2001)

IMPLEMENTATION OF HAZARD ANALYSISCRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMTO THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES INDUSTRY

L. K. Kourtis and I. S. Arvanitoyannis

University of Thessaly, School of Technological Sciences, Departmentof Agriculture, Crop and Animal Production, Pedion Areos 38334,

Volos, Greece (Hellas)

ABSTRACT

Alcoholic beverages (fermented or not) have been consumed for morethan three thousand years and, generally, they have been considered safe becauseof their alcohol content. However, in recent years adulteration (i.e., use of low-cost, inappropriate alcohol) has made rapid progress in this field. Food and drinkcontrol and safety can be assured within the frame of strict adherence to qualityand safety systems (ISO 9000 series, HACCP and TQM). The flow diagrams forthe production of several alcohol drinks were shown, and an extensive hazardanalysis critical control point (HACCP) analysis was carried out in order toreveal the weaknesses of the production line and to suggest the critical limitsin compliance with legislation and the corresponding preventive and correctivemeasures.

Key Words: HACCP; Alcoholic beverages; Hazard; CCP; Ouzo; Gin; Vodka;Brandy; Distilled spirits; Wine; Sake; Beer.

INTRODUCTION

It has taken almost 30 years (since 1971 when it was officially presented forthe first time) for the concept of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) tobecome universally accepted as one of the most rigorous preventive programs whosestrict implementation can assure food safety (1,2). Although HACCP is a system

Address correspondence to I. S. Arvanitoyannis, Dr., Ph.D. E-mail: parmenion33@hotmail.com

1

Copyright C 2001 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. www.dekker.com

2 KOURTIS AND ARVANITOYANNIS

aiming at zero defect products, it is well known that this is not feasible and thereal target is the minimization of unacceptable unsafe products. When a companydecides to adopt HACCP it should be able to set controls at each point of theproduction line at which safety problems (physical, chemical, and microbiological)are likely to occur (3).

Prior to initiating a HACCP system, a company must endeavor to put togethera HACCP plan, most often described by the five following steps (1,3,4,5): a) identifyHACCP resources and assemble the team, b) describe the food and its distributionmethod, c) state clearly intended use and consumers, and d) develop a process flowdiagram and e) verify the validity of this diagram in practice (operation).

The regulatory requirements for Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures(SSOPs) in conjunction with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) should alsobe considered as a prerequisite to HACCP. The following seven HACCP principlesconstituting the major steps to writing an HACCP (6,3,7):

1. Conduct a hazard analysis2. Identify critical control points (CCPs) by applying the HACCP decision

tree (8, Fig. 1)3. Establish critical limits (CLs) for each CCP4. Establish monitoring actions5. Establish corrective actions6. Establish record-keeping procedures7. Establish verification proceduresToday, HACCP is continuously gaining importance and worldwide acceptabil-

ity, being implemented by most countries all over the world. The implementation ofHACCP in the EU in particular was introduced by the Council Directives 91/43/93and 92/5/92. HACCPs implementation is considerably facilitated when other com-plementary quality assurance systems (ISO 9001/2) are already in place (9). Thecurrent tendency is integrating HACCP and ISO 9001 or ISO 9002 (10,11) withinthe frame of Total Quality Management.

Since the two most important stages for the drink industry are fermentationand bottling, where hazards are likely to occur, special care is required (trainedpersonnel, sanitation, equipment maintenance, GMP).

This review article aims to present an overview of HACCP implementation toalcoholic beverages through the production and distribution chains and to pinpointthe current CCPs, CLs and preventive and corrective actions due to be undertakenin case any deviations are observed.

BEER

Introduction

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of wort obtainedfrom barley malt flavored with hops. The alcoholic content of beer ranges from 4%

HAZARD ANALYSIS CRITICAL CONTROL POINT SYSTEM 3

Figure 1. HACCP decision tree (102).

for ordinary beer up to 15%. Beers first production in Mesopotamia by the Sume-rians in the 5th millennium B.C. classifies it among the most ancient of alcoholicbeverages. Towards the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C. there is documentary evi-dence of beer drinking by the Egyptians, who probably introduced beer technology

4 KOURTIS AND ARVANITOYANNIS

in Europe. Beer drinking in northern Europe dates back to early antiquity contraryto the Mediterranean countries, in which wine was the commonest drink. A criticalpoint in its history was the works of Louis Pasteur, which greatly contributed to theunderstanding of beer production (12).

Beer Main Production Stages

The main stages for beer production are shown schematically in Figure 2,together with their critical control point (CCP) numbers.

Incoming Raw Materials (CCP1)

The principal raw materials used to brew beer, are water, malted barley, hopsand yeast. Barley is required to be of sufficiently good malting quality in order togerminate and to produce a satisfactory product yield. Other factors such as dor-mancy and losses during malting have also to be considered (13). The malting orsubsequent brewing characteristics are subtly affected by the weather conditionsprevailing over the growing period. Some information regarding the quality of abatch of barley can be obtained by visual inspection, but usually it is complementedby analyses including moisture content, total nitrogen, 1000-grain weight and theportion of nongerminating grain. The National Institute of Agricultural Botany(UK) provides descriptions of the European malting varieties. Residues of certainpesticides used on malting barley survive through to the final malt and wort and canaffect the process and quality of the end product (CCP). Fungicides and herbicidesinfluencing enzyme synthesis during malting process can accumulate in the yeast,thereby affecting the next fermentation (14). The critical limits of these substancesare prescribed by Codex Alimentarius and are presented in Table 1. Presence ofheavy metals above the specifications of Directive 80/776/EC and mycotoxin pro-duction more than 0.04 mg/L, mainly from Fusarium species, such as aflatoxins,ochratoxine A, zearoleon, deoxyniralenol, constitutes a high risk for human health(CCP) (15). Temperature and relative humidity are two interacting parameters thatdefine the germination of spores of different microorganisms (16). Visual inspec-tion and biological plate methods detect the fungal contamination; for mycotoxinanalysis employment of HPLC or ELISA is required (17).

The quality of the water used is a major factor affecting the beer quality(CCP). The development of strict water control standards was introduced by mostbreweries in which water is filtered through activated carbon as well as ion ex-change resins to remove impurities (pesticides, herbicides and industrial wastes).Two ions of particular importance in water are calcium and carbonate/bicarbonate,which control the pH during brewing. Calcium also protects -amylase from heatdestruction, thereby permitting liquefaction of starch during mashing (18).

Hops not only provide bitter flavor to the beer but impart a hoppy characteras well. These aroma components are derived from the essential oil. The brewing

HAZARD ANALYSIS CRITICAL CONTROL POINT SYSTEM 5

Figure 2. Process flow diagram of beer production (22,26).

value of hops depends on the resin fraction which amounts to 15%, and the essentialoil, comprising 0.5%. Total resin is defined as the material soluble in both coldmethanol and diethyl ether; soft resin is that proportion of the total which issoluble in hexane comprising mainly and -acids, while hard resin is insolublein hexane. The -acids that are the most significant bittering precursors can bedistinguished from other soft resins from their ability to form a lead salt which isinsoluble in methanol. The determination of moisture and seed content also provideuseful conclusions about their quality (13). Adjuncts of carbohydrate origin other

6 KOURTIS AND ARVANITOYANNIS

Tabl

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Criti

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CP1)

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tem

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