In HACCP, which of the following steps can be designated as a CCP depending on the product?

• A. Receiving
• B. Cooking
• C. Purchasing
• D. Serving

Answer: (B)

In HACCP, a critical control point is a step in the flow where a control can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to acceptable levels, and losing control at that step would create an unacceptable risk. Cooking often becomes a CCP because heat treatment can kill harmful pathogens that might be present in the product. If the product requires cooking to be safe, you set a specific critical limit (like a minimum internal temperature and time), monitor it, and take corrective action if the limit isn’t met. This is why cooking is the best fit for a CCP when the product depends on heat to achieve safety.

Receiving and purchasing are typically managed through prerequisite procedures such as supplier verification and good receiving practices, rather than a point in the process where a hazard is controlled through a critical limit. Serving, while it can be important for safety in some contexts, is usually not designated as a CCP unless there’s a hazard at that stage that cannot be controlled earlier. The key idea is that the step becomes a CCP when control at that point directly prevents or reduces a hazard to an acceptable level, which is most often the cooking step for many products.