HACCP plan template for UK food businesses (free to copy, with a worked example)

A HACCP plan is a written food safety system that finds the points in your process where food could become unsafe, sets a limit for each one, and records your checks. Every UK food business must have a food safety management system based on HACCP principles. Most small kitchens meet this with the FSA's free Safer Food, Better Business pack (CookSafe in Scotland, Safe Catering in Northern Ireland). If your food or methods don't fit the pack, use the free HACCP plan template on this page.

This guide explains the law and good practice in plain English. It is not legal advice. Your council's food safety team can tell you what they expect for your business.

Do I need a HACCP plan?

You need a food safety management system based on HACCP principles. You don't always need a plan you wrote from scratch.

GOV.UK says your system is "a written set of processes, checks, rules and records", and it must meet the HACCP principles. The size of the paperwork should match the size and risk of your business.

Rule of thumb: if SFBB has a "safe method" for everything you do, fill in the pack and keep the diary. If you do something the pack doesn't cover, write a HACCP plan for that process and keep it with your pack.

What HACCP means

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. It is a way of thinking: look at each step of making a dish, ask what could go wrong, and put a check where it matters most.

A hazard is anything that could make food unsafe. GOV.UK lists three types:

• Microbiological: harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella, E. coli O157 or Listeria.
• Chemical: cleaning chemicals, pest bait and allergens.
• Physical: objects in food, such as glass, plastic, hair or metal.

The 7 principles of HACCP

Here are the seven principles (GOV.UK lists the same seven), with what each one means in a small kitchen.

1. Identify the hazards you must avoid, remove or reduce. Walk through every step, from delivery to service.
2. Identify the critical control points (CCPs). These are the steps where you must prevent, remove or reduce a hazard. Usually cooking, chilling, hot holding and allergen control.
3. Set limits for each CCP. For example, "core temperature 75°C for at least 30 seconds".
4. Monitor each CCP. Who checks, how and how often. For example, "probe every batch of chicken".
5. Act when a CCP goes wrong. Corrective action: "cook for longer and re-probe" or "throw it away".
6. Check the system works. Verification: a weekly or four-weekly review, probe calibration, and looking at your records.
7. Keep records. Your system, your checks and what you did when something went wrong.

What is a critical control point?

A critical control point is a step where a check is essential, because there's no later step that will make the food safe if you get it wrong. Cooking raw chicken is a CCP: if it's undercooked, nothing after that kills the bacteria. Washing salad is a control, but in many kitchens it isn't a CCP because other controls (buying ready-washed, keeping it chilled) manage the risk.

Common critical control points in UK kitchens

Temperature sources: GOV.UK Food hygiene for businesses (8°C, 5°C, 4-hour rule, 63°C hot holding, 2-hour rule, cooking times), Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 Schedule 4 (8°C and 63°C), FSA SFBB cooking guidance (time-temperature combinations) and Food Standards Scotland's CookSafe (82°C reheating, above 63°C hot holding). SFBB says frozen food should be kept at -18°C or below; there is no single legal freezer temperature.

How to write a HACCP plan: 7 steps

Use the template while you work through these steps.

1. Name your team and scope. Who writes and owns the plan? Which menu items, sites and processes does it cover?
2. Describe your food. Group dishes by process: "cook and serve hot", "cook, cool and reheat", "cold prep, no cook", "bought in, ready to eat". You don't need a plan per dish, just per process.
3. Draw a flow diagram. Delivery → storage → prep → cook → hot hold or cool → reheat → serve or pack → delivery to customer. Walk the kitchen to check it's true.
4. List hazards at each step (bacteria, chemical, allergen, physical) and the control you already use.
5. Decide which steps are CCPs. Ask: "If this goes wrong, does a later step fix it?" If not, it's a CCP.
6. Fill in limits, monitoring, corrective action and records for each CCP.
7. Verify and review. Check your probe: SFBB says it should read between -1°C and 1°C in iced water and between 99°C and 101°C in boiling water. Review the plan when the menu, suppliers, kit or staff change, and at regular set times. There's no fixed legal review period; SFBB uses a 4-weekly review.

Worked example: HACCP plan for a fried chicken and burger takeaway

This is an example to show the method. Your own plan must match your own kitchen.

Process: cook to order and serve hot, with some batch-cooked items held hot.

Keep an up-to-date allergen matrix for every dish and make sure staff know the 14 allergens. Officers check allergen controls as part of your management score at your EHO inspection.

Free HACCP plan template (copy or print)

The blank template below has six sections. Copy the tables into Word, Google Docs or a spreadsheet, or print this page from your browser and fill it in by hand. The worked takeaway example above shows how a finished CCP table looks.

1. Plan details

2. Product groups

3. Flow diagram

Write one line per process and cross out the steps you don't use:

Delivery → Storage → Prep → Cook → Cool → Reheat → Hot hold → Serve or pack

4. Hazard analysis

Hazard type: B (biological), C (chemical), A (allergen), P (physical).

5. CCP table

6. Records

Delivery log

Cooking, cooling and reheating log

Hot-hold log

Training record

Review log

For fridge and freezer checks, use our free fridge temperature log sheet. Keep your cleaning schedule with the plan too.

Records and due diligence

Due diligence is a legal defence. If something goes wrong, you may need to show you took all reasonable steps to prevent it. Your HACCP records are that proof. GOV.UK says that in a food safety incident "you will need to show your records as evidence of how you keep food safe".

Good records are:

• Real. Filled in at the time, not all at once before a visit.
• Signed. Initials and time on each check.
• Acted on. If a reading is out, the record shows what you did.
• Kept. SFBB asks you to store completed diary pages safely until your next visit from a food safety officer. There's no single legal retention period, so keep them longer if your council or insurer asks.

Food safety management system: SFBB vs CookSafe vs Safe Catering vs your own plan

You can mix them: use SFBB for most of the menu and a short HACCP plan for one complex process, such as sous vide.

Training: who needs HACCP training?

Food handlers do not have to hold a certificate, but they must be trained for their role. The FSA's rating guidance also looks for the people who develop and run your HACCP procedures to be adequately trained in HACCP principles. A Level 2 food hygiene course suits most staff. Managers who write the plan often take a Level 3 course or a dedicated HACCP course. See which food hygiene certificate you need.

Keep online menus in line with your allergen records

Your HACCP plan treats allergens as a hazard. The weak spot in many kitchens is the menu customers actually see. Your printed menu, delivery-app listings and website can drift out of step with what the kitchen cooks.

With Menuthere, your QR menu, collection orders and delivery orders all come from one menu. Change a recipe once and every customer-facing version updates. Tag each dish with the 14 allergens it contains, plus calories and a halal mark if you like, on every plan including Free. Customers see them when they open the dish, wherever they order. Keep your allergen matrix in step; it can load your dish allergens from Menuthere.

One menu for tables, collection and delivery, with allergens on every dish and 0% commission. Already taking phone orders? See our.

Create your free ordering pagetakeaway ordering system

Next steps: get ready for a 5-star food hygiene rating and write your kitchen risk assessment for staff safety (that's health and safety, not HACCP).