The Seafood HACCP Alliance Training Program

This Internet-based training program was developed by the National Seafood HACCP Alliance—a group comprised of federal and state agencies with responsibility for seafood safety inspections, Sea Grant and university seafood science professionals, and seafood industry representatives. The course is managed for the Alliance by New York Sea Grant and Cornell University. This is the fourth version (2020 edition) of the Alliance Internet training course, and it is based on the sixth edition (2020) of the Alliance’s HACCP Training Curriculum Manual. The original Internet course was launched by the National Seafood HACCP Alliance in 2001 and was based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (Agreement No. 99-41560-0768). The second edition of the Seafood HACCP Alliance Internet course is partially funded through a grant from the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative (Grant No. 2009-51110-20174) of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The third and fourth editions were funded through course fees.

Training and the FDA Seafood HACCP Regulation

The Seafood HACCP Alliance training program was designed to meet the training requirements established under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandatory seafood HACCP regulation (21 CFR Part 123). One part (Section 123.10) of this regulation requires that certain HACCP activities be conducted by a “trained individual”. A “trained individual” is one who “has successfully completed training in the application of HACCP principles to fish and fishery product processing at least equivalent to that received under a standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the FDA or who is otherwise qualified through job experience to perform these functions”. The FDA has recognized the Seafood HACCP Alliance training program as the standardized curriculum by which the agency will evaluate training courses to determine if they meet the requirements of this regulation.
The following activities must be conducted by a “trained individual”:

• Developing a HACCP plan, that is appropriate for a specific processor, in order to meet the requirements of Sec. 123.6(b);
• Reassessing and modifying the HACCP plan in accordance with the corrective action procedures specified in Sec. 123.7(c)(5), the verification activities specified in Sec. 123.8(a)(1), and the hazard analysis in accordance with the verification activities specified in Sec. 123.8(c); and
• Performing the record review required by Sec. 123.8(a)(3);