Food-borne illnesses account for at least 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States. The cost of these illnesses is estimated to be more than $10 billion annually.
To combat food-borne illnesses, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, issues its Food Code Recommendations. State and municipal health departments — charged by law with regulating the practices of food stores, restaurants, and all kinds of food-handling and food-storage facilities — draw on the Food Code for their own regulations. One of the key features of the latest Food Code is a recommendation that each food establishment have an effective Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan tailored to its own operations. The HACCP plan identifies hazards that might contribute to food-borne illnesses, and establishes critical points in the food-handling process where controls can help ensure the safety of food.