HACCP principles are seven, and the FDA's guidelines cited below are their source. 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. Each principle produces something a kitchen can point at: a hazard table, a list of critical control points, a limit at each, a monitoring record, a corrective action written in advance, a verification routine and the records. The HACCP plan template on this site prints the first six from the kitchen's processes, free; the paid product keeps the seventh.
Principles one and two: hazard analysis and critical control points
The hazard analysis walks each process step for biological, chemical and physical hazards and allergens. The critical control points are the steps where control is essential and no later step will remove the hazard: cooking, cooling, reheating, holding. The template prints both from the process list.
Principles three and four: critical limits and monitoring
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 FDA's safe food handling page, cited below, says to keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below, to refrigerate perishables within 2 hours of cooking or purchasing and within 1 hour if the temperature outside is above 90°F, and its buffet guidance keeps hot foods at 140°F or warmer and cold foods at 40°F or colder. Each limit gets a monitoring routine: who measures, when, with what, and the record it goes in. The hot food temperature check and the temperature log planner on this site are the monitoring records.
Principle five: corrective actions
Decided before the miss, not during it: what happens when the chicken reads under, when the cold counter reads over, when the cooling took too long. Written in the plan, taken and recorded when needed.
Principles six and seven: verification and records
Verification is checking the system works: calibrating the probe, reviewing the records, auditing the plan against the menu. Records are the evidence for everything above, kept for every day of trading. ProbeLedger Pro keeps them; the audit checklist on this site is the verification walk. 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 principles
Are the seven principles the same worldwide?
Yes; the Codex principles and the FDA's statement of them are the same seven.
How many critical control points should a plan have?
As few as control requires; the template counts them from the processes rather than inventing them.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.