Preliminary steps necessary for developing a food safety plan include which first step?

Preliminary steps necessary for developing a food safety plan include which first step?

• A. Describe the product and its distribution
• B. Describe intended use and consumers
• C. Assemble the food safety team
• D. Verify the flow diagram on-site

Answer: (C)

The first step is to assemble the food safety team. Building a cross-functional team ensures you have the right mix of knowledge from production, QA, engineering, distribution, and management to own and drive the plan. With the team in place, you can accurately describe the product and its distribution, and clearly define intended use and the target consumer, which then feeds into creating a correct process flow diagram. After the team is formed, the flow diagram is developed and later reviewed on-site and verified. Describing the product, intended use, and verifying the diagram are important steps, but they depend on having a committed team to guide and validate the plan.

The first step is to assemble the food safety team. Building a cross-functional team ensures you have the right mix of knowledge from production, QA, engineering, distribution, and management to own and drive the plan. With the team in place, you can accurately describe the product and its distribution, and clearly define intended use and the target consumer, which then feeds into creating a correct process flow diagram. After the team is formed, the flow diagram is developed and later reviewed on-site and verified. Describing the product, intended use, and verifying the diagram are important steps, but they depend on having a committed team to guide and validate the plan.