Guides to Good Hygiene Practice

Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 allows for the development of guides to good practice for hygiene of foodstuffs and also for guides regarding the application of HACCP principles (guides to good practice). Food business operators may use these guides on a voluntary basis as an aid to compliance with food hygiene requirements.

According to Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004, two types of guides may be developed depending on the level at which they are established, i.e., national or EU-level guides.

National Guides to Good Practice

Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs sets out the requirements for developing national guides. It requires that when national guides to good practice are developed, they must be developed and disseminated by food business sectors: 

(a) in consultation with representatives of parties whose interests may be substantially affected, such as competent authorities and consumer groups;

(b) have regard to relevant codes of practice of the Codex Alimentarius;

and

(c) when they concern primary production and those associated operations listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004, they must have regard to the recommendations set out in Part B of that Annex. 

Guides may also be developed under the ægis of a national standards institute. In Ireland, this is the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).

When national guides are developed, they have to be assessed by national authorities in order to ensure the suitability of their contents with EU legislation and their practicability for the sectors to which they refer. 

Assessment of National Guides to Good Practice

In Ireland, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the relevant competent authority assess national guides and a formal recommendation for recognition of guides is sent to the relevant government department. That government department then makes the decision to recognise a guide or not, and if recognised, the guide will be forwarded to the European Commission as required in Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 and will be placed on the EU Register where it is available to both national authorities and food businesses. The EU has a Register of National Guides.

The Irish National Guides currently on the EU register are: 

• Hygiene in the catering sector (Irish Standard 340:2007, NSAI publication )
• Hygiene in food retailing and wholesaling (Irish Standard 341:2007, NSAI publication)
• Packaged Groundwater (Irish Standard 432:2010, NSAI publication)
• Safe Catering – your guide to making food safely (FSAI publication)

The FSAI has developed Guidance Note 23 on the ‘Development and Assessment of Recognised National Voluntary Guides to Good Hygiene Practice and the Application of HACCP Principles’.