• Guide

​CookSafe Guide

CookSafe helps catering businesses in Scotland understand and implement HACCP-based systems

Content: Guide

Published by:

  • Food Safety Assurance
  • Food Standards

Reference number: 1.2

HACCP Charts

What are HACCP Charts

HACCP charts help you to identify the issues that are key to food safety, what can go wrong and what you must do to prevent it happening. The information contained in the HACCP Charts is an important part of your HACCP based system. Some people may find it difficult to set out the information required, therefore ‘CookSafe’ provides you with completed HACCP Charts covering the issues found in almost all catering businesses. 

The HACCP Charts are laid out in a standard way for each process step found in a typical catering business. For example, the first process step will almost certainly involve the purchase of food.

The HACCP Charts in this manual deal only with hazards that appear at Critical Control Points (CCPS) within the catering process. 

For example:

Refrigerated Delivery of Cooked/Ready-to-eat Food IS a Critical Control Point

...because of ready-to-eat food is already contaminated with harmful bacteria which could multiply, then no later step will destroy them.

However, 

Refrigerated Delivery of Raw Chicken Still to be Cooked IS NOT a Critical Control Point

..because although raw chicken may be contaminated by harmful bacteria, the bacteria will usually be destroyed later on - by adequate cooking.

Note - Cooking raw chicken is  a Critical Control Point.

Refer to the Introduction Section of this manual for further guidance on Critical Control Points (CCPs))

Therefore, the first HACCP Chart is based on the first process step, 'Purchase, Receipt/Delivery, Collect' of food and is designed to cover your operation whether you have food delivered to you or if you collect food from a supplier or a cash and carry.

A HACCP Chart in ‘CookSafe’ looks like this:- 

PURCHASE, RECEIPT/DELIVERY, COLLECT

Hazard(s)*Control measures and critical limitsMonitoring and recordingCorrective action
What can go wrong?

What action has to be taken to effectively
reduce or get rid of the hazard?

What are the critical limits?

How are the control measures checked and recorded?
 
What should be done if the control measure fails and/or the critical limits are not met?
 
Presence and Growth
of Harmful Bacteria
Cooked/Ready-to-eat
foods where food is either delivered to the
premises or collected
by the food business
 

Accept deliveries from a
reputable supplier at a
temperature that will discourage the growth of harmful bacteria

Food collected must be
transported in a way that
will ensure that the
temperature on arrival
will comply with your
specified House Rules
Make sure that all food is
within its ‘use by’ date

Monitor temperature of
food on delivery

Monitor temperature of
food on arrival

Visual check on ‘use by’
dates
 

•    Decide if food should be rejected or is safe to use
•    Review supplier
•    Dispose of unsafe food
•    Review collection practices or methods of transportation
•    Reject food beyond ‘use by’ date and review supplier
 

What you need to do:

Keep to your Temperature Control House Rules

Keep to your Stock
Control House Rules
 

What you need to do:

Complete Delivery Record

Complete Delivery
Record
 

What you need to do:

Refer to your Temperature Control
and Stock Control House Rules

*Guidance on these terms can be found in the Introduction Section of this manual

 

Which HACCP Charts are relevant to you?

You will need to work through the Flow Diagram section of this manual before you can identify the HACCP charts relevant to your catering business. If you have ticked a process step on the right hand side of your Flow Diagram, then that specific process step must occur in your business. Therefore, a HACCP Chart for that same step will be relevant to you.

The HACCP Charts you identify as being relevant, must be exactly the same as the process steps selected in the right hand side of your Flow Diagram.

What about the HACCP Charts that are not relevant?

If you have decided that any of the HACCP Charts have no relevance to your business, then these should be removed from this manual. It may, however, be wise to retain these in a safe place in case they become relevantin the future.

What you need to do now

  1. Having worked through the Flow Diagram section of this manual, you will now have identified all the process steps in your business. There is a HACCP Chart in this section for each process step. Remove any HACCP Charts, which are not relevant to your business.
  2. Read the contents of each remaining HACCP Chart, which will indicate which House Rules apply at each process step. To make this task easier, Link Boxes have been provided at the bottom of each HACCP Chart indicating the House Rules relevant to each process step. For Example, the Link Box on the 'Purchase, Receipt/Delivery, Collect' HACCP Chart includes the following:

House Rules References

Training, Cleaning, Temperature Control, Cross Contamination Prevention and Stock Control

3.    The House Rules relevant to 'Purchase, Receipt/Delivery, Collect' are therefore, Training, Cleaning, Temperature Control, Cross Contamination Prevention and Stock Control. In the House Rules Section of the manual, you will find that there will be a sub-section for each of these subjects. In each of these sub-sections you will be given guidance and then be asked to write your House Rules to indicate how you manage each of these subjects in your business.

4.    Now use the HACCP Charts to decide upon the records which are relevant to your business. Remember that if you have recording forms/records already drawn up for your business, check to make sure that they cover the same areas that are included in the example forms which can be found in the Records Section of this manual.

5.    Consider the Corrective Actions listed in the HACCP Charts for each process step and check to see if they are appropriate for your business. You may wish to customise the HACCP Charts by adding in other Corrective Actions, which are appropriate to your business.

6.    If you carry out a process step in your business not covered in the HACCP Charts, a HACCP Chart template can be found at the end of this section for your use.

Once you have identified and read all the HACCP charts that are relevant to your business, remember to complete and sign the HACCP Chart section of the action plan.

HACCP Charts

This manual is intended to cover most catering operations, however, we acknowledge the existence of speciality products, including food such as raw meat, fish and shellfish that will be eaten raw. General guidance is provided below, but you are advised to obtain specialist advice as necessary.

RAW MEAT, FISH AND SHELLFISH - This process step refers to foods such as oysters, beef carpaccio, fish in sushi and sashimi which are eaten raw and therefore require to be handled as carefully as ready- to-eat foods. Additionally, these foods present a contamination risk to other ready-to-eat foods.

These foods require to be stored and handled separately from both conventional raw foods such as raw meat and other ready-to-eat foods. The service of raw and partially cooked foods presents a hazard, which cannot always be fully controlled.

LIVE SHELLFISH - Only buy seafood from reputable suppliers.

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