Food safety inspection: the 8 documents the inspector asks for

At a food safety inspection, the inspector wants to see three things: that the business is registered, that it has a food safety plan, and that it follows the plan every day. In practice that means 8 groups of documents: registration, the HACCP plan, temperature records, the corrective action log, cleaning records, pest control records, supplier records, and staff training and health records. The exact list depends on your country and your type of business, so check your national guide as well.

Where the list comes from

Each document follows from EU food law. Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires a procedure based on HACCP principles, with documents and records that fit the nature and size of the business. It also says you must give the authority evidence that you comply, in the way the authority asks. Annex II of the same regulation sets the hygiene rules for premises, cleaning, pests, staff and training. Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 requires that you can trace each food back to its supplier.

The 8 documents

1. Registration. Proof that the business is registered with the food authority, as Article 6 of Regulation 852/2004 requires. A food truck must be registered too. Check where your country wants a mobile unit registered.
2. HACCP plan. Your hazards, your critical control points and their limits, how you monitor them, and what you do when a limit is missed. It must match what you sell today. When the menu changes, update the plan.
3. Temperature records. Fridges and freezers, cooking, hot holding, and goods on delivery. Many national guides use 0 to +5 °C for chilled food, -18 °C or colder for frozen food, 75 °C in the core for cooking, and 63 °C or above for hot holding. Your national limits may differ.
4. Corrective action log. Every deviation, what you did about it, and who checked.
5. Cleaning plan and cleaning records. What is cleaned, how often, with which product, and who signed for it.
6. Pest control records. Trap and bait checks, what you found, what you did, and the contractor's reports if you use one. Annex II, Chapter IX, requires adequate procedures to control pests.
7. Supplier and delivery records. Invoices and delivery notes, with lot numbers where you have them, so every product can be traced to its supplier.
8. Staff training and health records. Hygiene training that fits each person's work (Annex II, Chapter XII), and the health checks or instructions your country requires (Annex II, Chapter VIII).

Why the corrective action log matters

Corrective actions are one of the seven HACCP principles in Article 5. A log that shows no problem for a whole year can raise questions. Fridges fail, deliveries arrive warm, and cleans get missed. The inspector wants to see that you noticed each problem and dealt with it.

Each entry should show:

• The date and time.
• What was wrong, with the measured value if there is one.
• What you did with the food.
• What you did to fix the cause.
• Who did it, and who checked it.

Write the entry when it happens, not at the end of the week. An entry written days later is harder to trust and easy to get wrong.

Extra records for a food truck

Annex II, Chapter III, has rules for movable premises such as mobile sales vehicles. They cover hand washing, a supply of drinking water, the hygienic storage and disposal of waste, including liquid waste, and a way to keep food at the right temperature and monitor it. For a food truck, keep these records as well:

• A tank log: when the water tank and the waste water tank were emptied, cleaned and disinfected, and with which product.
• Temperature checks for the fridges and the hot holding in the truck, on every trading day.

Your national rules may set how often the tanks must be emptied and disinfected. Check your national guide and write the frequency into your plan.

How to keep the documents ready

• Keep them where you work: at the premises, or in the truck.
• Sort them by date, so you can find a given day quickly.
• Keep them for as long as your national rules require. EU law only says "an appropriate period".
• Paper and electronic records can both work, as long as you can show them when asked. The FSA's Safer food, better business diary for England and Wales, for example, can be kept either way.

Do it in the app

EZLineGo keeps temperature checks, corrective actions, cleaning, deliveries with lot numbers, training and health records in one place on your phone. You write the corrective action next to the measured value, the app reminds you when a check or a health record is due, and at an inspection you show everything as a PDF. There is a Free plan, and the HACCP logs are part of Pro, which costs 15 EUR a month and which you can try free for 30 days.