TACCP Food Defence Training

About this course

Learn a practical, defensive approach to protecting food and food operations from deliberate interference. TACCP Food Defence Training is designed for food business owners, managers and food safety teams who need to understand threats, evaluate protective arrangements and maintain a useful food defence plan.

Follow original fictional manufacturing, catering and logistics cases. Review an integrity concern, verify an unexpected change request, make proportionate decisions and practise the coordination needed when product safety is uncertain.

Twelve detailed lessons combine colourful interactive slides, twelve illustrated walkthroughs, twenty-four decision activities with feedback for every choice and a marked check in each lesson. Learn to define scope, form a capable team, use credible information, assess and prioritise threats, select layered controls and verify that the plan works. People, visitors, contractors, suppliers, transport and digital information are considered alongside incident response and recall readiness.

Understand the different questions addressed by HACCP, TACCP and VACCP, including their overlaps. Apply the legal, customer and certification-scheme requirements relevant to your operation. Practical methods are clearly distinguished from those requirements.

Allow approximately three hours: 150 minutes for lessons, activities and checks, plus 30 minutes for the final exam. Complete and pass twelve lesson checks, then answer thirty final questions. At least twenty-four correct answers, 80%, are required to pass.

The fee is NZ$50 plus 15% GST: NZ$7.50 GST, NZ$57.50 total per learner. Successful learners receive an Access Food course-completion certificate. Completion supports workplace development; it is not regulatory approval, a security guarantee, an accredited qualification or proof of competence to lead every site assessment.

What does TACCP mean? It is commonly expanded as Threat Assessment Critical Control Point, a structured approach to assessing threats and managing protection. Food defence is also written as food defense in US guidance. TACCP and VACCP are related: this course focuses on food defence and deliberate interference, while VACCP training focuses on vulnerability to economically motivated food fraud. Coordinate them with your existing food safety system.

Who this course is for

• Food business owners and managers responsible for protecting products and operations.
• Food safety and quality teams developing or reviewing food defence arrangements.
• Supervisors coordinating staff, contractors, suppliers, logistics and incident reporting.

Learning outcomes

• Explain food defence and the useful distinctions and overlaps between HACCP, TACCP and VACCP.
• Identify applicable requirements, leadership responsibilities and team competence.
• Define a proportionate assessment scope across products, processes and relevant services.
• Evaluate threat information without profiling people or treating rumours as facts.
• Assess significance using clear reasoning, evidence, uncertainty and existing controls.
• Choose layered protective measures with ownership, checks and response arrangements.
• Support staff reporting, visitor and contractor controls, and trusted supply-chain handovers.
• Protect important digital information and verify sensitive changes.
• Monitor and verify a food defence plan and respond to control failures.
• Coordinate safe incident escalation, product hold and recall assessment.
• Run safe tabletop exercises and review the plan after relevant changes.

Course outline

1. Food defence, TACCP and your learning route
2. Requirements, leadership and a capable team
3. Define scope and map the protected operation
4. Use credible information and describe concerns fairly
5. Assess and prioritise threats proportionately
6. Select layered protective controls
7. People, contractors and a trusted reporting culture
8. Suppliers, transport and controlled handovers
9. Digital information, identity and change control
10. Document, monitor and verify the food defence plan
11. Respond to concerns and coordinate recall decisions
12. Exercise, review and improve your arrangements

How you will learn

Move through presentation-style slides at your own pace. Select topics to reveal more detail, work through practical scenarios and complete the knowledge checks along the way. The final exam presents one question at a time with an answer-review screen before submission. Your student account saves completed lessons and assessment results.

Assessment and completion

Complete and pass all 12 lesson checks, then complete a 30-question final exam. At least 24 correct answers (80%) are required to pass. The 24 practice decisions explain every choice and do not count towards the exam. Existing retry arrangements apply.

Access Food course-completion certificate after passing the assessment. No MPI, NZQA, BSI, BRCGS or FSSC accreditation, approval or practitioner certification is claimed.

Before you enrol

No formal qualification is required. Familiarity with your food operation is helpful. Use your approved food safety arrangements and applicable customer or certification requirements for workplace activities. Fictional cases are provided. Keep workplace notes and site-security details private through your business's approved controls.