HACCP food safety is a method, not a certificate. The FDA's HACCP principles and application guidelines, cited below, describe HACCP as a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation and control of food safety hazards based on seven principles. In a small kitchen the seven come down to knowing where a hazard can be prevented, removed or reduced, measuring at that point, writing the measurement down, acting when it is out of limit, and checking the whole thing works. The HACCP plan template on this site builds the plan from the kitchen's processes, free and without an account; the paid product keeps the records the plan calls for.
Analyse the hazards, find the critical control points
For each process, receiving, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating, holding, serving: what could make the food unsafe, biological, chemical, physical, and where in the process it can be controlled. The points where control is essential are the critical control points. The template on this site prints them from the process list.
Set the limits, monitor them
Each critical control point has a limit that separates safe from unsafe, and a monitoring routine that measures against it. The FDA's safe cooking temperatures, from the same page: 145°F with a 3 minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork, veal and lamb and for fin fish; 160°F for ground meat and egg dishes; 165°F for poultry, leftovers and casseroles; 140°F to reheat fully cooked ham. The hot food temperature check and the temperature log planner on this site are the monitoring records for cooking and holding.
Correct, verify, record
When a measurement is out of limit, the corrective action is decided in advance and recorded when taken. Verification checks that the system works: calibrating the probe, reviewing the records, auditing the plan. And the records are kept, because a HACCP system without records is a HACCP system that cannot be shown to exist.
What a kitchen keeps
The plan, the daily temperature records, the corrective actions, the cleaning and training records, the allergen matrix, the supplier and traceability records. ProbeLedger Pro keeps them against the plan; the free tools print each. 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 food safety
Is HACCP required in the US?
Federal rules mandate HACCP for specific sectors, and the FDA Food Code, adopted by states, is built on active managerial control of the same hazards; a plan and its records are what an inspector expects.
How many critical control points does a small kitchen have?
Usually a handful: cooking, cooling, hot and cold holding, reheating. The template counts them from the processes.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.