Audits and Checklists
Six self-scoring audits that remember your ticks on this device.
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Food hygiene standards.
The temperatures that matter, HACCP in seven steps, ten rules of the kitchen and a daily audit you can run from a phone.
The law first
Local law governs. In India that is the Food Safety and Standards Act and Schedule 4 of the licensing regulations issued under it. Where the house standard is stricter than the law, hold the house standard.
This page is guidance for owners and managers. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace a trained food safety supervisor.
Temperatures
Between 5 and 60 °C bacteria multiply fastest. Most of food safety is keeping food out of that range, or passing through it quickly.
| Control | Standard |
|---|---|
| Chilled storage | 5 °C or below |
| Frozen storage | −18 °C or below |
| Deliveries | Chilled at 5 °C or below, frozen at −18 °C or below. Reject anything outside |
| Cooking | 75 °C at the core |
| Hot holding | 60 °C or above |
| Cooling | From 60 °C to 21 °C within two hours, and to 5 °C within a further four |
| Reheating | 75 °C at the core, once only |
| Time in the danger zone | Food held between 5 and 60 °C for more than four hours in total is discarded |
| Dishwasher | Final rinse at 82 °C |
| Hand washing | 20 seconds with soap, at a basin used for nothing else |
HACCP in seven steps
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, as set out by the Codex Alimentarius.
- 01List the hazards at each step, from delivery to the plate
- 02Find the critical control points: the steps where a hazard must be stopped
- 03Set a limit for each one, such as a temperature and a time
- 04Monitor each limit, and write the reading down
- 05Decide in advance what is done when a limit is missed
- 06Check that the system works: audits, calibration, laboratory tests
- 07Keep the records
Ten rules of the kitchen
- Wash hands on entering the kitchen, after raw food, after waste, after the telephone
- Use separate boards and knives for raw meat, raw fish, vegetables and cooked food, by colour
- Label everything with the date made and the date it expires. First to expire is first out
- Keep an allergen matrix for the whole menu, and name one person per shift who answers the guest
- No bare hands on food that is ready to eat
- Nobody works with food while ill, or for 48 hours after stomach symptoms stop
- Check probe thermometers every week, in iced water and in boiling water
- Follow a written cleaning schedule, signed for each day
- Hold a pest-control contract, and keep its log in the kitchen
- Test water and ice as the law requires, and keep staff medical and training records current
Daily hygiene audit
Twenty-five checks for the chef or the duty manager. Tick as you walk. Your ticks stay on this device until you clear them.
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People
Receiving and storage
Preparation and cooking
Holding and service
Cleaning and waste
Records
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