What is a critical control point is answered by the gov.uk guidance cited below, which describes critical control points as the points when you need to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard in your work process. The test a kitchen applies is whether a later step would do it instead: cooking kills bacteria and nothing after it will, so cooking is critical; a wash step before cooking is not. 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 HACCP plan template on this site finds the points from the kitchen's processes, free.
The test
At each step: could a hazard occur here; is this step where it is controlled; would a later step control it anyway. A step that controls a hazard nothing later will is critical. Most kitchens end with a handful: cooking, cooling, reheating, hot holding, cold storage, allergen handling.
The limit
A critical control point has a limit that separates safe from unsafe. 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.
The monitoring and the record
Who measures, when, with what, into which record, decided for each control point and written into the plan. The hot food temperature check on this site is the cooking and holding record; the temperature log planner is the storage and cooling record; both carry the limit on the sheet.
The corrective action
Decided in advance: what happens to the food, the equipment and the record when the limit is missed. Recorded when taken. ProbeLedger Pro keeps the records against each control point. 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 is a critical control point
Is hand-washing a critical control point?
It is a prerequisite: essential, but not a step with a measurable limit in the process flow. It is controlled by procedure and training.
Can a kitchen have too many critical control points?
Yes; every one needs monitoring and records. The test keeps the list to the steps that matter.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.