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Hazard analysis was conducted to identify critical control points (CCPs) during cocoa processing and milk chocolate manufacture and applied into a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plan. During the process, the different biological, physical and chemical hazards identified at each processing stage in the hazard analysis worksheet were incorporated into the HACCP plan to assess the risks associated with the processes. Physical hazards such as metals, stones, fibres, plastics and papers; chemical hazards such as pesticide residues, mycotoxins and heavy metals; and microbiological hazards such as Staphyloccous aureus, coliforms, Salmonella, Aspergillus and Penicillium were identified. ISO 22000 analysis was conducted for the determination of some pre-requisite programmes (PrPs) during the chocolate processing and compared with the HACCP system. The ISO 22000 Analysis worksheet reduced the CCPs for both cocoa processing and chocolate manufacture due to the elimination of the pre-requisite programmes (PrPs). Monitoring systems were established for the CCPs identified and these included preventive measures, critical limits, corrective actions, assignment of responsibilities and verification procedures. The incorporation of PrPs in the ISO 22000 made the system simple, more manageable and effective since a smaller number of CCPs were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SummaryHigher-yielding varieties of cocoa make heavier demands on phosphorus resources in soils and so it is important that the role of leaf litter in cycling P is understood. Fresh cocoa leaves and leaf litter were incubated moist with a soil inoculum for 80 days when between 16 and 33% of the mass was lost. Materials containing large amounts of P or incubated with added inorganic P initially decomposed more rapidly than those containing smaller amounts, indicating that decomposition was limited by lack of P. Fresh leaves had half of their P in an acid-soluble (0.1 m H2SO4) form, most of which was also water soluble, whereas in the litters about a third was acid-soluble. During incubation, P-rich materials showed an increase in the acid-soluble fraction and a decrease in water-soluble P. Litters with small concentrations of P simply lost P from the acid-soluble into the non-soluble organic fraction, and no water-soluble P remained after 80 days. –A soil from a cocoa-growing site fertilized with P contained almost four times as much biomass P as the non-fertilized control (30 and 8 mg kg–1 soil, respectively), the amounts of bicarbonate-extractable P being 32 and 4 mg kg–1. Soils from these and one other cocoa-growing site (8 mg kg–1 biomass P, 7 mg kg–1 bicarbonate-extractable P) were incubated either alone, with cocoa litter, or with cocoa litter plus inorganic P. In the soil that had the small amount of NaHCO3-extractable P (4 mg kg–1) addition of litter caused the biomass P to increase from 8 to 16 mg kg–1 after 1 week’s incubation, the increase being larger than the amount of P added in the litter, but in the other two soils biomass P was not increased. Addition of inorganic P had no effect on biomass P in any of the soils. –Decomposing litter may compete with the crop for P, but addition of... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]