Restaurant HACCP and food safety routines that work

A food safety folder becomes useful when staff can follow its procedures during a shift. Start at goods receiving and follow food through to the guest. Where could something go wrong, who would detect it and what would they do?

What does HACCP require?

HACCP is a method for identifying and controlling food safety hazards. Restaurants must maintain procedures based on its principles under Article 5 of the EU hygiene regulation. The controls needed depend on the actual operation.

Good hygiene provides the foundation: effective cleaning, personal hygiene, storage, pest prevention and suitable equipment. A hazard analysis may show that these procedures are sufficient for some operations. Not every check is therefore a critical control point. The Swedish Food Agency’s HACCP guidance explains proportionate application according to the size and nature of the business.

Map an actual process

Start with a dish that illustrates your methods, such as a stew cooked, cooled and reheated for a later service. Draw the steps, then walk through the kitchen to check that the diagram reflects reality.

Ask practical questions at each stage:

• How are incoming goods checked?
• How are raw and ready-to-eat foods kept separate?
• What method controls cooking, cooling and reheating?
• What happens if equipment fails or a measurement is missing?
• How does the next shift know what has been checked?

Add processes with different requirements, such as cold preparation, buffets, catering or special diets. One form may not suit all of them.

The seven principles, briefly

The principles cover identifying hazards, determining whether critical control points are needed, setting limits for them, monitoring, corrective action, verification and records. See the hygiene regulation for the full requirements.

Make each procedure executable. “Check the temperature” leaves important details open. Specify the product or process, where the measurement is taken, when it is taken and who assesses the result.

Cooking, hot holding, cooling and refrigerated storage serve different purposes. Use substantiated limits and methods appropriate to the food and process, supported by relevant guidance or industry guidelines. A single temperature number for the entire kitchen cannot provide effective control.

Decide the response before a failure

When a check identifies a deviation, staff need to know who decides what happens to the food and how to keep it out of service while it is assessed. A note in a log alone does not resolve the problem.

A useful record includes the date, affected product or batch, observation, action and responsible person. Investigate the cause too: was the container too large, the equipment overloaded or responsibility unclear?

Make records useful

Keep current instructions where staff need them. Identify the version and owner so an obsolete procedure does not remain in use after a menu change. Test induction by asking a new colleague to explain what they would do when a check fails.

Paper and digital tools can both work. Consider how easily staff can record the right information, retrieve history and identify changes. An app reminder does not prove that a check happened.

Review food safety procedures when changing suppliers, recipes, equipment or production volumes. The Swedish Food Agency’s handling and storage guidance supports hygiene planning. Include a clear allergen information procedure so kitchen and service staff use the same current information.