Abstract:
Tea industry of a Sri Lanka generates lot of foreign income and all of the produces are
exported worldwide and the country is reputed for its high quality tea. However safety of the
product is being dramatically decreased since last decades. Therefore health risks may
associate with black tea. HACCP is a food safety management system that, can prevent or
minimize or eliminate risk and bring them down to acceptable levels so that they do not
harm the consumers. HACCP is used in much food industry to prove such products are not
harmful to the consumer. However if any tea producer is willing to export black tea to
European countries this will be permitted or accepted with HACCP certificate. The HACCP
certificate for tea is compulsory with effect from 2007 by European Union.
The project was carried out to in order to implement an HACCP system in Moragalla Tea
Processing center with proper establishment of supportive networks such as GMP and GHP,supplier control etc. Moragalla Tea Processing Center belongs to the low country tea
productions region and manufactures black tea in the orthodox process. The entire
manufacturing process was studied and a detailed flow chart was prepared. The existing
shortcomings were identified by means of worker survey. As an initial corrective measure the 5 S systems was applied to selected sections of the factory along, with a personal hygiene programme. Maintenance and cleaning programme were adapted to the whole factory as a prerequisite for a Good manufacturing Practices (GMP) programme. Sanitary Standard operations practices (SSOP) and Standards Operation practices (SOP) were carried out as the other prerequisite programmes.
CCP’s were identified in green leaf, drier temperature, moisture level, and metal detections of. dispatch product. Those critical control point (CCP) can be controlled through the corrective actions and verification procedures. However supplier control is difficult task
because more than hundred bought leaf suppliers supply green leaf to the factory. But
suppliers could be acknowledged and accessed according to the factory standards.All CCPs can be controlled with adhering to the GMP and GAP and using corrective actions of HACCP principle. After implementation of HACCP it should be maintained otherwise this would breakdown the system. If the HAACP system is properly functioning that will not allow the generation health risks in tea industry, because, HACCP is a universal risk prevention method.
