A HACCP app is worth having for one reason: the records exist on the day the inspector asks, and they exist because the app asked for them when they were due. The plan's critical control points are in it, each check is recorded against its limit, a missed limit prompts the corrective action, and the whole set prints in a minute. The danger zone temperature log planner on this site sizes the records a kitchen produces, free, and this page is the test to run on any app before paying.
Hold the plan
The critical control points with their limits: cooking, cooling, reheating, hot holding, cold storage. The same guidance gives the cooking standard as 70°C for 2 minutes, or the equivalents it lists, 75°C for 30 seconds among them. 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. An app that holds a generic checklist rather than the kitchen's own plan records against nobody's limits.
Record against the limit, remind when due
Each temperature check is recorded with the time, the item and the reading, judged against the limit, and the app asks for the next one when it is due. The temperature log planner on this site prints how many checks a day the kitchen's plan produces, which is the number the app has to prompt.
Flag the miss, record the fix
A reading out of limit triggers the corrective action the plan decided in advance, and the action taken is recorded with who took it. That record is what turns a miss into evidence of a working system rather than evidence of a failure.
Produce the set
The inspector's third area is the management of food safety, and the evidence is the records for the period asked for. An app that exports the plan and the records for a date range in one action passes the test. 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 haccp app
Does a HACCP app replace the plan?
No; it keeps the plan and the records. The HACCP plan template on this site prints the plan the app holds.
Can I keep using paper for some records?
Yes, though a set split between paper and app is a set with a gap on inspection day.
What is free here?
The temperature log planner, the HACCP plan template and the other tools; keeping the records is the paid product.