All establishments operating under the “Equal To” Inspection Program are required to have Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP’s) and a HACCP plan (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) in place. These measures help ensure that meat and poultry processors are producing safe products. These requirements can be fairly complicated, so it is important to learn the basics before starting a meat or poultry processing business.
SSOP’s
SSOP's are written procedures that describe the establishment’s cleaning program and the records used to monitor that cleaning is being performed regularly. The program needs to describe sanitary personnel practices and operations used to keep the environment and plant facilities in a clean condition. There are very specific requirements for the type of procedures that the SSOP’s need to contain and the type of monitoring that needs to take place to meet program requirements. The regulatory requirements for SSOP’s can be found in 9 CFR 416.11-416.16.
The HACCP Plan
A HACCP plan is the written food safety plan for the establishment. This plan covers biological, chemical, and physical food safety hazards that may arise during the production process. The HACCP is implemented to control these hazards in products and ensure the production of safe products. The regulatory requirements for HACCP in meat inspection can be found in 9 CFR 417.
Resources to Get Started
Developing an SSOP and a HACCP plan that meet the regulatory requirements can be very challenging. It is important to become familiar with the SSOP and HACCP concepts first.
There are no "cookie-cutter" or generic plans that work as-is for all establishments.Your plans must be written to reflect your actual processes and your specific operation. However, you may still find it helpful to review example SSOPs and HACCP plans to get a feel for how these can be organized and the level of detail required. You can find a few MDA example plans in the "forms + resources" section of this page. Additional guidance, including model plans, can be found at the sites listed below:
