HACCP Plan guidance helps food businesses prevent food safety problems before contaminated or unsafe food reaches customers. A HACCP Plan examines each stage of food handling, identifies significant hazards, and establishes effective controls where failures could pose a risk to consumer health.
Quick Overview
This guide explains what a HACCP Plan is, includes a practical HACCP Plan example, HACCP Plan template, and guidance for developing a operations. It also explains when to carry out a HACCP Plan review to ensure the system remains effective and compliant with food safety requirements.
This guide covers:
✅What a HACCP Plan is and the HACCP plan meaning
✅HACCP Plan requirements and the HACCP Plan steps in order
✅The HACCP Plan first step and the seven HACCP principles explained
✅A practical HACCP Plan example and a customisable HACCP Plan template
✅How to create a HACCP Plan for restaurant operations and other food businesses
✅HACCP Plan format, monitoring, verification, record-keeping and HACCP Plan review best practices
The system may cover deliveries, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating, packaging and service. A small café may use a proportionate HACCP-based food safety system, while a manufacturer handling more complex or higher-risk products may require a detailed HACCP Plan supported by technical evidence and documented procedures.
This guide explains how to create a HACCP Plan by following five preliminary tasks and the seven internationally recognised HACCP principles, helping businesses develop a practical and effective food safety management system.
What Is a HACCP Plan?
What is the HACCP Plan? A HACCP Plan is a documented food safety management system used to identify, assess and control hazards that could make food unsafe. It provides a structured, preventive approach to managing food safety risks throughout the production, preparation and service process.
HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. The HACCP Plan meaning can be understood through four key elements:
- A hazard is anything that could make food unsafe.
- Hazard analysis assesses which hazards could reasonably occur during food handling.
- A Critical Control Point (CCP) is a stage where control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level.
- The HACCP Plan documents the required control measures, critical limits, monitoring procedures, corrective actions, verification activities and records.
A HACCP Plan is preventive rather than reactive. For example, a restaurant preparing raw chicken should assess supplier controls, chilled storage, food preparation, cooking and any cooling or reheating stages before the meal reaches the customer.
The HACCP Plan normally forms part of a wider food safety management system. Effective cleaning, personal hygiene, allergen management, pest control, equipment maintenance and staff training provide the essential foundation for the HACCP system to operate effectively.
HACCP Plan Requirements
The principal HACCP Plan requirements are based on the internationally recognised seven HACCP principles. A business should identify food safety hazards, determine its Critical Control Points (CCPs), establish critical limits, monitor those limits, define corrective actions, verify that the system is working effectively and maintain appropriate records.
Before applying the HACCP principles, ensure that prerequisite food hygiene programmes are fully implemented. These may include supplier approval, cleaning and sanitation, cross-contamination controls, allergen management, refrigeration, pest control, waste management, equipment maintenance and traceability.
The scope of the HACCP Plan should clearly identify which foods, premises and process stages are covered. Food that is cooked and served immediately follows a different process from food that is cooked, cooled, stored and reheated, and the HACCP Plan should reflect those differences.
A practical HACCP Plan format normally records:
- Process stage.
- Potential hazard.
- Control measure.
- CCP decision.
- Critical limit.
- Monitoring procedure.
- Corrective action.
- Verification activity.
- Record used.
Documentation should be proportionate to the nature and complexity of the business but must accurately reflect its actual practices. A generic HACCP Plan cannot automatically account for differences in ingredients, equipment, production processes, customer groups or premises layout, so it should always be reviewed and adapted to the specific operation.
The 5 Preliminary Tasks Before Creating a HACCP Plan
Many businesses ask, “What are the HACCP Plan steps in order?” Before applying the seven HACCP principles, every HACCP Plan should begin with five preliminary tasks. These tasks help ensure the hazard analysis is based on accurate information and reflects the business’s actual operations.
The HACCP Plan steps before the seven principles are:
- Assemble the HACCP team.
- Describe the product.
- Identify the intended use.
- Construct the process flow diagram.
- Verify the process flow diagram on site.
Step 1: Assemble the HACCP Team
The HACCP Plan first step is to assemble a team with suitable knowledge of the food, production process and workplace.
A small HACCP Plan for restaurant operations may involve the owner, head chef and kitchen supervisor. A larger organisation may require input from food safety, production, purchasing, maintenance and engineering personnel.
Collectively, the team should understand ingredients, suppliers, recipes, equipment, storage conditions and the microbiological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards that could reasonably occur.
Front-line employees should also be consulted because they understand how the process operates during busy periods. They may identify temporary storage, delays or working practices that are not reflected in written procedures.
Clearly define the scope of the HACCP Plan and appoint someone with the authority to approve changes. More complex or higher-risk operations may require advice from a suitably qualified food safety specialist.
Step 2: Describe the Product
Prepare a clear description of each food or product group included in the HACCP Plan. The description should include relevant information such as:
- Ingredients and allergens.
- Preparation or manufacturing method.
- Packaging.
- Storage conditions.
- Shelf life.
- Distribution method.
- Whether the food is ready to eat.
A practical HACCP Plan example for a restaurant could describe chicken curry as a dish prepared from chilled raw poultry, cooked in batches and either served immediately or cooled for later reheating.
These process routes should be assessed separately because cooling and reheating introduce additional food safety hazards.
Review and update the product description whenever ingredients, recipes, suppliers, packaging, processing methods or batch sizes change.
Step 3: Identify the Intended Use
State how the food is expected to be used and who is intended to consume it.
A product may be ready to eat, reheated by the customer or supplied to another food business for further processing. Food intended for hospitals, care homes, nurseries or other vulnerable consumers may require stricter control measures.
The HACCP Plan should also consider reasonably foreseeable misuse. For example, customers may store food for longer than recommended or misunderstand reheating instructions. Clear labelling and realistic preparation guidance can help reduce these risks.
Step 4: Create and Verify the Process Flow Diagram
A process flow diagram shows every stage through which food passes during preparation, production or service.
A simple HACCP Plan format for a restaurant may include:
Delivery → Storage → Preparation → Cooking → Service
Depending on the operation, the process may also include defrosting, hot holding, cooling, chilled storage, reheating, takeaway packaging or food delivery.
The flow diagram should include temporary storage, waiting periods, outsourced activities and waste handling where relevant. The HACCP team should then walk through the premises and compare the diagram with actual working practices.
This on-site verification may identify issues such as deliveries waiting before refrigeration or staff using an alternative preparation area during busy service. The flow diagram should be corrected before beginning the hazard analysis.
Many businesses use a HACCP Plan template to record these preliminary tasks consistently. However, every template should be adapted to reflect the specific products, processes, equipment and working practices of the business rather than copied without review.
The 7 HACCP Principles
After completing the preliminary tasks, the HACCP Plan steps in order are:
- Conduct a hazard analysis.
- Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs).
- Establish critical limits.
- Establish monitoring procedures.
- Establish corrective actions.
- Establish verification procedures.
- Establish documentation and record-keeping.
These HACCP Plan steps transform the preliminary information into a practical food safety management system that helps businesses identify, evaluate and control significant food safety hazards.
Principle 1: Conduct a Hazard Analysis
Although assembling the HACCP team is the HACCP Plan first step during the preliminary stage, the first principle is to examine every process stage and identify hazards that could reasonably occur.
Microbiological hazards include harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites. Chemical hazards include cleaning chemicals, naturally occurring toxins and allergens. Physical hazards include glass, metal, stones or fragments from damaged equipment.
Hazards should be described precisely. For example, “metal fragments from a damaged slicing blade” provides a more useful hazard description than simply stating “physical contamination”.
Assess both the likelihood and severity of each hazard. For every significant hazard, identify appropriate control measures such as approved suppliers, temperature control, separation of raw and ready-to-eat foods, validated cooking processes or effective allergen management procedures.
Principle 2: Determine Critical Control Points
A Critical Control Point (CCP) is a stage where control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a significant food safety hazard to an acceptable level.
Cooking raw poultry is a common CCP because inadequate cooking may allow harmful microorganisms to survive, and no later process may be available to make the food safe.
Not every important control is a CCP. Cleaning, personal hygiene, handwashing and pest control are generally managed through prerequisite programmes rather than Critical Control Points.
A CCP decision tree can support consistent decision-making, but it should not replace competent professional judgement. Identifying unnecessary CCPs can make the HACCP Plan more difficult to manage and monitor effectively.
Principle 3: Establish Critical Limits
A critical limit separates acceptable control from unacceptable control at each CCP.
Critical limits may relate to temperature, time, acidity (pH), water activity or another measurable parameter. General instructions such as “cook properly” or “keep chilled” are too vague to demonstrate effective control.
Critical limits should be based on applicable legislation, official guidance, scientific evidence or validated technical data. They should also reflect the actual food, portion size, equipment and production process used by the business.
Many businesses establish an operational target that is more cautious than the critical limit, allowing staff to take corrective action before control is lost.
Principle 4: Establish Monitoring Procedures
Monitoring confirms whether each CCP remains under control.
The HACCP Plan format should clearly specify:
- What will be monitored.
- How it will be monitored.
- How often monitoring will take place.
- Who is responsible.
- Where the results will be recorded.
For example, in a HACCP Plan for restaurant operations, a trained employee may use a calibrated probe thermometer to check the core temperature of every batch of cooked poultry before service.
Monitoring must take place frequently enough to detect loss of control before unsafe food reaches customers. Monitoring equipment should also be maintained, calibrated and checked regularly for accuracy.
Principle 5: Establish Corrective Actions
Corrective actions explain exactly what employees must do when a critical limit is exceeded or not achieved.
The procedure should address both the affected food and the underlying cause of the failure. Food that has not completed a validated cooking process may be cooked further and rechecked where this can be done safely. Where food safety cannot be demonstrated, the food should be isolated and safely disposed of.
The business should investigate whether the failure resulted from unsuitable equipment, incorrect settings, operator error or faulty monitoring equipment.
Records should include the non-conformance, affected food, corrective action taken, verification of the outcome and the responsible person.
Principle 6: Establish Verification Procedures
Verification confirms that the HACCP Plan is operating as intended and continues to control food safety hazards effectively.
Verification differs from monitoring. Monitoring checks an individual CCP during production, whereas verification evaluates the effectiveness of the overall food safety management system.
Verification activities may include:
- Reviewing monitoring records.
- Observing staff procedures.
- Checking corrective actions.
- Calibrating monitoring equipment.
- Reviewing customer complaints and food safety incidents.
- Conducting internal audits where appropriate.
Validation provides evidence that a control measure is capable of controlling the hazard, while verification confirms that the validated control measures are being consistently applied.
A scheduled HACCP Plan review should also form part of the verification process to ensure the system remains suitable whenever products, suppliers, equipment, legislation or production methods change.
Principle 7: Establish Documentation and Record-Keeping
Records provide evidence of what the business planned, what employees monitored and how any failures were managed.
Typical HACCP Plan template documents may include:
- Product descriptions.
- Process flow diagrams.
- Hazard analyses.
- CCP decisions.
- Critical limits.
- Monitoring records.
- Corrective action records.
- Equipment calibration records.
- Verification records.
- HACCP Plan reviews.
A well-designed HACCP Plan example should include documentation that is clear, practical and proportionate to the size and complexity of the business.
Whether using paper-based or digital records, the HACCP Plan format should be straightforward enough for employees to complete during normal operations while recording the date, monitoring results, responsible person and any corrective action taken. Accurate documentation supports compliance, demonstrates due diligence and provides evidence that the HACCP Plan is being implemented effectively.
HACCP Plan Example
The following simplified HACCP Plan example illustrates part of a restaurant’s cooked chicken process. It is intended for guidance only. Critical limits, monitoring procedures and corrective actions should always be determined through the business’s own hazard analysis and based on applicable legislation, official guidance or validated scientific evidence.
| Process Stage | Hazard and Control | CCP Decision | Monitoring and Corrective Action |
| Chilled storage | Microbial growth controlled through effective refrigeration | Depends on the hazard analysis | Check temperatures regularly and assess affected food if control is lost. |
| Preparation | Cross-contamination controlled through separation, cleaning and good hygiene | Usually managed as a prerequisite programme | Observe working practices, stop production if necessary, clean affected areas and assess exposed food. |
| Cooking | Survival of harmful microorganisms | Commonly a CCP | Check each batch using a suitable probe thermometer. Continue cooking where safe or discard affected food if safety cannot be demonstrated. |
| Hot holding | Microbial growth caused by unsuitable holding conditions | May be a CCP | Monitor at defined intervals and take corrective action immediately if critical limits are exceeded. |
This HACCP Plan example demonstrates how significant hazards, Critical Control Points and monitoring activities can be documented within a practical food safety management system.
HACCP Plan Template
A practical HACCP Plan template should begin with key business information, including:
- Business name.
- Site or premises.
- Products covered.
- Scope of the HACCP Plan.
- HACCP team members.
- Version number.
- Review date.
The main HACCP Plan format should normally include:
- Process stage.
- Hazard.
- Control measure.
- CCP decision.
- Critical limit.
- Monitoring procedure.
- Corrective action.
- Verification activity.
- Records maintained.
Supporting documents may include cleaning schedules, allergen management procedures, supplier specifications, equipment calibration records, staff training records and process flow diagrams.
A HACCP Plan template provides a consistent structure but should always be adapted to reflect the business’s actual products, equipment, premises and working practices rather than copied without review.
HACCP Plan for Restaurant Operations
A HACCP Plan for restaurant businesses should accurately reflect the menu, food preparation methods and the different routes that food follows through the kitchen.
Food served immediately after cooking presents different hazards from food that is cooked, cooled, stored and later reheated. Buffets, takeaway services, food deliveries and off-site catering may introduce additional food safety hazards that should be considered during the hazard analysis.
Smaller restaurants may choose to implement an official HACCP-based food safety management system where appropriate. However, it should always be completed for the individual premises and supported by routine monitoring, record-keeping and staff training.
A HACCP Plan for restaurant operations should pay particular attention to cross-contamination, allergen management, cooking temperatures, cooling procedures, reheating, hot holding and recipe changes, as these can significantly affect food safety.
Developing HACCP Skills Through Jobsonline
Understanding the HACCP Plan steps and the principles behind them is an important part of food safety training.
Jobsonline provides access to a marketplace of courses from external training providers. Learners should review each course carefully because the duration, syllabus, assessment methods, accreditation and certification may vary between providers.
At the time of writing, a dedicated live HACCP course with independently verifiable course-specific accreditation could not be confirmed. However, Jobsonline’s employment listings indicate that HACCP knowledge is commonly requested for positions such as Quality Control Technician and Food Quality Manager.
Before enrolling on any course, review the provider’s credentials, course syllabus, assessment method, certificate awarded and whether the qualification meets any legal or employer-specific requirements. A certificate of completion may support professional development but should not automatically be regarded as a regulated HACCP qualification.
Reviewing and Updating Your HACCP Plan
A scheduled HACCP Plan review is essential to ensure the food safety management system remains accurate, effective and relevant to the business.
The HACCP Plan review should be carried out at planned intervals and whenever significant changes occur, including:
- New recipes or ingredients.
- Changes to suppliers.
- New equipment.
- Changes to packaging.
- New production or delivery processes.
- Changes to legislation or official guidance.
- Customer complaints.
- Food safety incidents.
- Repeated monitoring failures.
As part of the review, walk through the entire process, confirm that the process flow diagram remains accurate, examine monitoring and verification records, and assess whether existing control measures continue to manage identified hazards effectively.
Update the HACCP Plan, document any changes, record the new version number and review date, and ensure relevant employees understand any revised procedures. Regular reviews help demonstrate that the HACCP Plan continues to reflect the business’s actual operations and supports ongoing food safety compliance.
After completing the five preliminary tasks, the HACCP Plan steps in order should continue to be reviewed periodically to ensure each principle remains effective. Whether using a detailed HACCP Plan format or a simplified HACCP Plan template, every food business should ensure its HACCP Plan is specific to its operations, supported by appropriate evidence and implemented consistently in day-to-day practice.
Conclusion
A reliable HACCP Plan begins with a thorough understanding of the food, production process and the people responsible for food safety. The five preliminary tasks establish the foundation, while the seven principles create a structured system of hazard analysis, Critical Control Points (CCPs), critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and record-keeping.
Following the HACCP Plan steps in order helps businesses develop a practical and evidence-based food safety management system that reflects their actual operations. Whether using a HACCP Plan template, a customised HACCP Plan format or a detailed business-specific document, the plan should always be tailored to the products, equipment, premises and processes involved.
Regular HACCP Plan review is essential whenever ingredients, suppliers, equipment, legislation or working methods change. When properly implemented, a HACCP Plan helps businesses identify hazards early, maintain effective food safety controls and reduce the risk of unsafe food reaching customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the 7 HACCP Plan steps in order?
The HACCP Plan steps in order are:
- Conduct a hazard analysis.
- Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs).
- Establish critical limits.
- Establish monitoring procedures.
- Establish corrective actions.
- Establish verification procedures.
- Establish documentation and record-keeping.
2. What is the HACCP Plan first step?
The HACCP Plan first step is to assemble the HACCP team and define the scope of the food safety system during the preliminary tasks. The first formal HACCP principle is to conduct a hazard analysis.
3. Does every UK food business need a HACCP Plan?
UK food businesses are required to operate a food safety management system based on HACCP principles. The complexity of the HACCP Plan should be proportionate to the size, nature and level of risk associated with the business.
4. Can a restaurant use a HACCP Plan template?
Yes. A HACCP Plan template can provide a useful starting point, particularly for a HACCP Plan for restaurant operations. However, it should always be adapted to reflect the restaurant’s actual menu, equipment, premises, processes and food safety hazards.
5. Where can I find a HACCP Plan example?
A HACCP Plan example can help businesses understand how hazards, Critical Control Points, monitoring procedures and corrective actions are documented. However, examples should be used for guidance only and should never replace a business-specific HACCP Plan.
6. Is cooking always a Critical Control Point (CCP)?
No. Whether cooking is identified as a CCP depends on the hazard analysis, the food being prepared and whether a later process can effectively control the identified hazard.
7. How often should a HACCP Plan be reviewed?
A scheduled HACCP Plan review should take place at planned intervals and whenever there are significant changes to products, suppliers, ingredients, equipment, production methods, premises or relevant food safety legislation. Regular reviews help ensure the HACCP Plan remains accurate and effective.
8. Does completing a HACCP course automatically provide a regulated qualification?
Not necessarily. Before enrolling, check the training provider, awarding organisation, accreditation status and employer requirements. A course completion certificate may demonstrate learning but should not automatically be regarded as a regulated HACCP qualification.