A food hygiene checklist is three checklists, because hygiene runs at three speeds. Daily: the opening and closing checks, fridge and freezer temperatures, hand-washing stations stocked, surfaces cleaned, the probe working. Weekly: the walk of the premises, the pest check, the deep-clean sign-offs, the records reviewed for gaps. Before the inspection: the audit of all three areas the inspector scores. The food safety audit checklist on this site prints the third and covers the first two, free and without an account.
Daily: opening and closing
Fridges and freezers read and recorded; hand-wash basins with soap and towels; sanitiser made up; probe checked; date labels applied; the hot counter reading at service. The Food Standards Agency's cooking-your-food guidance, cited below, gives the danger zone as between 8 and 63°C, where bacterial growth occurs, and says leftovers must be cooled and put in the fridge within two hours and eaten within 48 hours. The temperature log planner on this site prints the daily lines.
Weekly: the walk
Floors, walls, drains, extraction, behind and under equipment, the dry store, the bins, the pest monitors, the cleaning schedule sign-offs, and the week's temperature records read for blanks and misses. A gap found on the weekly walk is fixed before it is found by an inspector.
Before the visit: the audit
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme guidance, cited below, says 5 is top of the scale, meaning the hygiene standards are very good and fully comply with the law, and 0 is at the bottom, meaning urgent improvement is necessary; the inspector looks at how hygienically the food is handled, the physical condition of the business, and how the business manages ways of keeping food safe, looking at processes, training and systems. The audit checklist walks the three areas with the records for each, so the third area, management of food safety, is rehearsed rather than hoped for.
Keeping the completed checklists
Each completed checklist is a record in its own right, evidence that the routine ran. ProbeLedger Pro keeps them against the day; the free checklist prints. FoodDocs lists its Lite plan at $99 per site per month billed monthly or $79 billed annually, and its Standard plan at $199 per site per month, with a free 14-day trial, on its pricing page cited below. ProbeLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole site.
Questions people ask about food hygiene checklist
Who signs the daily checklist?
The person who did the checks, with the time; an unsigned checklist is a list, not a record.
How long do I keep them?
For the period the plan states; long enough to cover the last inspection interval is the usual floor.
Is the checklist free?
Yes, without an account.