What does HACCP mean is answered by expanding the letters and then by what a kitchen does with them. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point: find what could make the food unsafe at each step, control it at the steps where nothing later will, set a limit there, measure it, act when it is missed, check the system, keep the records. 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. The gov.uk guidance for food businesses, cited below, says a food safety management system must meet the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles, and describes critical control points as the points when you need to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard in your work process. The HACCP plan template on this site prints the plan, free.
Hazard analysis
Each process step from receiving to serving examined for biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards, with what could go wrong written against the step. The table of steps and hazards that results is the plan's first page, and the template on this site prints it from the process list.
Critical control points and limits
Cooking, cooling, reheating, holding, storage, allergens, each with a limit. 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.
Monitoring, correction, verification, records
Measured and recorded at each control point; acted on when a limit is missed, with the action written in the plan in advance; the probe calibrated and the records reviewed; the records kept for every trading day. The tools on this site print the records; ProbeLedger Pro keeps them.
What it means in law
A UK food business must have a food safety management system based on the principles, and the inspector scores its management as one of the three areas of the food hygiene rating. 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 what does haccp mean
Does HACCP mean the same everywhere?
Yes; the seven principles are the same in Codex, the FDA's guidelines and UK guidance.
Is HACCP a qualification?
No; training in it exists, and the plan and its records are what is inspected.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.