HACCP is for safety, not quality

26), a reader took us to task for characterizing HACCP as a quality program, rather than a safety program. "People who aren't aware of HACCP may think it's just another quality program--ISO, TQM, or whatever," says Joan Thurber. "It's not." Thurber is the HACCP coordinator for Kind & Knox Gelatin, a gelatin manufacturer in Sioux City, IA. The difference: For some companies, HACCP is a requirement, not an optional quality program, she says. As federal agencies look at expanding HACCP to cover other types of food products, this will only increase in importance, she believes. "A lot of companies were caught with their shorts down because they didn't think HACCP applied to them, and all of a sudden it did."