Quality assurance managers and HACCP team leaders at seafood processing units
They own the hazard analysis and the audit file. A shared vocabulary across shifts makes their plan work.
Course snapshot
CourseHACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Training
DurationHalf Day
Validity2 years
CourseHACCP, half a day
FeeAsk our team
CertificateiMost, valid 2 years
AssessmentContinuous, short evaluation
CampusNjarakkal, Vypin island
From central ErnakulamAbout 11 km
Why Kochi's food plants ask about HACCP
Three public bodies that shape seafood quality have an office in this city. The Marine Products Export Development Authority, constituted on 24 August 1972 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is headquartered in Kochi and registers infrastructure facilities for the seafood export trade. The Export Inspection Council works through Export Inspection Agencies set up in 1966, with a regional office at Kochi. Its three tiers are consignment-wise inspection, in-process quality control and certification based on food safety management systems. It also offers training and technical help on systems built on HACCP principles.
That context explains why a plant manager here hears the word so often. In September 2025 the European Union approved 102 more Indian fishery establishments, taking the EU-listed total to 604, and MPEDA credited coordinated work with the Inspection Council on food safety standards, including HACCP protocols from production to processing. Those approvals belong to the establishments and are decided by the authorities. A half-day course does not grant one. What it gives you is a team that can read a plan, defend a critical limit and keep honest records.
The cluster is spread around the harbour. Aroor, a fishing village at the northern tip of Alappuzha district, is described as about 15 km from the Cochin fishing harbour and port, and the KINFRA Seafood Park there is a joint venture of KINFRA, MPEDA and the Seafood Exporters Association, with quality control labs, pre-processing centres and an effluent treatment plant. Willingdon Island hosts the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a National Reference Laboratory for fish and fish products under FSSAI. Raw material arrives from several states, is processed, cold-stored and shipped through the port.
Hotels, banquet kitchens and institutional caterers make up the other half of local demand. They work to the domestic licence regime rather than export approval, and a single batch may feed hundreds of guests. For them the value of HACCP is simple: one person who knows where a cooling or holding step can fail, and who can show the records.
Marine Products Export Development Authority
Constituted 24 August 1972 and headquartered in Kochi; registers infrastructure facilities for the seafood export trade.
Export Inspection Agency, Kochi
One of five regional offices of the agencies set up in 1966, with in-process and food-safety-system certification and HACCP training support.
KINFRA Seafood Park, Aroor
Joint venture of KINFRA, MPEDA and the Seafood Exporters Association; quality control labs, pre-processing centres and an effluent plant.
EU-listed Indian fishery establishments
604 units after 102 were added in September 2025, according to MPEDA.
Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Willingdon Island
ICAR institute listed as a National Reference Laboratory for fish and fish products under FSSAI.
Who in Kochi should sit this course
Production and shift supervisors in peeling, grading, freezing and packing
They carry out the monitoring. A supervisor who knows why a limit exists corrects a drift before it becomes a rejected lot.
Cold-store and dispatch managers near the port
Receiving temperatures, glazing and loading into reefer containers are classic control points that sit at the edge of the plant.
Executive chefs and kitchen managers in hotels and banquet halls
Large batches, long holding and quick turnarounds mean the cooling and reheating steps need a written plan.
Central-kitchen and institutional catering heads
A single failed control reaches hundreds of diners, so the plan has to be specific, monitored and signed.
Consultants and auditors who support small processors
A refresher on the seven principles helps them explain findings in plain terms to owners and floor staff.
HACCP or a broader food hygiene course
Pick HACCP when one or two people must build and maintain a written hazard plan, or when a buyer, auditor or licensing authority has asked for one. Pick Food Safety for Catering when you want a whole kitchen to share the same hygiene and temperature habits. The two fit together: managers take HACCP, crews take the wider course. If the hazard is a refrigerant leak or a person hurt in the plant, a different course is the right one.
Food Safety for Catering Training →
Kitchen and canteen teams who need daily habits on hygiene, cleaning and temperature rather than a plan.
Hazardous Materials HAZMAT Training →
Cold stores and ice plants that use ammonia or handle cleaning chemicals in bulk.
Basic First Aid Training →
Wet floors, knives, freezers and conveyors, where cuts and falls are more likely than a recall.
Risk Assessment Training →
Safety officers who want to rate workplace hazards, as opposed to product hazards.
The five modules, read against a Kochi processing line
The half day is classroom teaching with practical exercises and case studies. Assessment is continuous through participation and exercises, with a short end-of-course evaluation, and a certificate of completion is issued on success. Here is how each module reads for a seafood plant or a hotel kitchen.
- 01
Introduction to HACCP and food safety
Why HACCP exists, the frameworks behind it (Codex Alimentarius, FDA and EU rules) and the impact of foodborne illness. Exporters will recognise the buyer-audit angle immediately.
- 02
The seven principles of HACCP
Each principle in turn: the hazard analysis, the control points, the limits, the monitoring, the corrective actions, the verification and the records. For a freezing line the limits are numbers you can read off a gauge; for a kitchen they are cooking and cooling times.
- 03
Risk assessment and hazard identification
Flow diagrams and hazard identification. Draw the line from receiving to dispatch, then ask what could go wrong at each box: biological, chemical or physical. Farmed shrimp bring residue questions that buyers and MPEDA track from the farm.
- 04
Developing and implementing a HACCP plan
Who sits on the team, what the scope covers and how the plan is assembled, with case studies. Small units learn to keep it short enough that the floor really follows it.
- 05
Monitoring, verification and continuous improvement
Documentation, audits and what to do when a record shows a missed limit. We spend time on corrective actions that survive a surprise visit.
For Kochi exporters, hoteliers and caterers
Buyers are quality heads and plant managers at export units, hotel and resort groups, catering firms and institutional kitchens. They normally send a small core team so the plan has an owner on every shift, and it is easy to do from Ernakulam because the campus is close.
Standards that shape training in Kerala
Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963Basis of the Export Inspection Council and its agencies, which inspect notified export products and certify food safety management systems.
MPEDA registration and listingMPEDA registers infrastructure facilities for the seafood export trade, and EU listing of establishments is announced through it.
FSSAI licensing and FoSTaC for domestic businessesHotels and caterers work to FSSAI licence conditions. FoSTaC is FSSAI's own scheme through authorised providers, and our course is not FoSTaC.
Buyer and customer auditsRetail and food-service buyers often audit against their own checklists. Share yours and we can point to the syllabus module that covers each item.
What employers commonly ask for
| Course | Requirement note |
|---|---|
| HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Training | For the people who write, review and sign the plan. A buyer or authority decides what else is required. |
| Food Safety for Catering Training | For the crews who carry out the controls every day, often booked for the same company in a separate batch. |
| Hazardous Materials HAZMAT Training | Useful for cold-store and chemical-store staff alongside the food-safety side. |
Planning a group booking
- We do not print a fee for this course. Ask our team for the current rate and group pricing, naming the roles you plan to send.
- Send two or three people per company rather than one, so the plan has a second reader who was in the room.
- Corporate accounts at portal.imostacademy.in/register hold group bookings, GST invoices and certificate dates in one place. Set a reminder for the two-year expiry.
- If your export auditor has raised a non-conformity on training records, share the wording with us before booking so we can say how the course fits.
Operators and clients set their own requirements; confirm with your contract or HSE department.
Getting to Njarakkal from plants around the harbour
The campus is on Vypin island, over the Goshree bridges from Ernakulam. Most seafood units and hotels are within the Kochi urban area, so a shared vehicle is the simplest plan. Out-of-town delegates can use the railway junction or the airport.
Company vehicle or tempo traveller
For a team of four to ten from Willingdon Island, Mattancherry, Aroor or the city centre. Leave outside the weekday rush on the bridges and tell us your start point so we can suggest a batch time.
Ernakulam Junction or Ernakulam Town
Visiting auditors or head-office staff can arrive by train. The junction is about 15 km from the campus by road via the Goshree bridges.
Cochin International Airport
About 40 km from the campus and around an hour by taxi. Suits export managers flying in from other seafood centres for a one-night visit.
From a draft plan to a certificate in one morning
- 1
Pick the owners of the plan
Choose the quality lead and one supervisor who will carry out the monitoring. A certificate held by someone who never touches the line adds little.
- 2
Prepare your process on one page
List the steps from receiving to dispatch, mark the points you think are critical, and bring last month's monitoring sheet with the product names removed.
- 3
Ask our team for a batch
Write to info@imostacademy.in or WhatsApp +91 8075 787307 with the headcount, your sector and a preferred month. Ask for the current fee in the same message.
- 4
Attend and test your draft
Work the seven principles against your own steps, then take the short end-of-course evaluation.
- 5
Take the corrections back
Fix the plan within the week while the discussion is fresh, brief the shifts, and note the two-year expiry for the next batch.