HACCP is important because it prioritizes and controls potential hazards in food production. By controlling major food risks, such as microbiological, chemical and physical contaminants, the industry can better assure consumers that its products are as safe as good science and technology allows. By reducing food borne hazards, public health protection is strengthened

While many public opinion studies report that consumers are concerned primarily about chemical residues, such as from pesticides and antibiotics, these hazards are nearly non-existent. The more significant hazards facing the food industry today are microbiological contaminants, such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter, and Clostridium botulinum. HACCP is designed to focus on and control the most significant hazards.

HACCP is not new. It was first used in the 1960s by the Pillsbury Company to produce the safest and highest quality food possible for astronauts in the space program. The National Academy of Sciences, National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria for Foods, and the Codex Ailmentarius have endorsed HACCP as the best process control system available today.

The current food inspection program is based on a "see, smell and touch" approach that relies more on detection of potential hazards than prevention. Furthermore, the current inspection program was designed in the 1930s when the threat of diseased animals and physical contaminants were the main concerns. Today, microbiological and chemical contaminations, which cannot be seen, are of greater interest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently mandated HACCP for the nation's 7,000 meat and poultry plants