What is HACCP? A guide for food businesses

Whether you run a bustling restaurant, a multisite hotel group, or a local care home, a comprehensive food safety strategy is the backbone of your success.

That’s why Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is your most powerful tool for keeping people safe and your business thriving.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about HACCP, including what it stands for, the seven HACCP principles, and how to keep your business compliant.

Key summary

If you’re looking for the fundamentals around HACCP, here’s what you need to know:

• HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point and is a mandatory framework for identifying, evaluating, and controlling food safety hazards.
• UK law requires food businesses to have a plan in place based on HACCP principles to keep customers safe and stay compliant.
• Seven core HACCP principles form the foundation of any effective food safety management system.
• HACCP is enforced by local authorities via Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and overseen by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

What is HACCP?

In the food safety industry, HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Put simply, it’s a framework that prevents hazards in food production.

The system was first introduced in the 1960s for NASA to create a safe, pathogen-free food for astronauts.

Following endorsement by the World Health Organisation, in January 2006, HACCP was written into EU legislation under Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, making it a legal requirement across the European Union. Later, the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (with separate regulations for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) made it mandatory for food businesses to create and maintain hazard-prevention procedures based on the seven HACCP principles.

Today, it’s an internationally recognised programme that’s widely known as the gold standard for food safety.

Why do we use HACCP?

Rather than just inspecting a finished dish and hoping for the best, HACCP focuses on identifying potential problems before they happen. It’s about looking at every step of your process, from receiving ingredients from your suppliers to serving the final plate, and making sure you have controls in place at the points where things are most likely to go wrong.

Having a HACCP plan isn’t just good practice; it’s a legal requirement and provides a clear, logical structure that helps you protect your customers, your reputation and your business.

Here are some other key reasons why HACCP is essential for your business:

• It prevents foodborne illness — By identifying risks like harmful bacteria, viruses, or allergens early on, you can stop them from ever reaching your customers.
• It protects your reputation — A single food safety incident can have devastating consequences. A robust plan shows your customers and the authorities that you take their safety seriously.
• It boosts your food hygiene rating — Local authorities look for a working HACCP system during inspections. Having one in place is the best way to aim for a 5-star rating. Learn more about Food Hygiene Ratings with our guide.
• It creates a defence — If an incident does occur, having a documented system and accurate records proves you’ve done everything reasonable to keep food safe.
• It boosts efficiency and reduces waste — By setting clear standards for things like storage and cooking temperatures, you reduce the risk of stock being ruined, spoiled, or thrown away.
• It empowers your team — Clear, logical procedures make it easier for your staff to follow the rules and feel confident in their work, especially during a busy service.

The 7 HACCP principles

The HACCP framework is built on seven core principles that guide you through identifying risks and setting up a system to manage them. By following these steps, you can make sure your kitchen remains a safe environment for both your team and your customers.

1. Conduct a hazard analysis

The first step is to look at your entire food process and identify any potential hazards, which are anything that could make food unsafe to eat. The FSA highlights three types of hazards:

• Microbiological — Involving harmful bacteria, like Salmonella.
• Chemical — Involving chemical contamination, like toxic cleaning chemicals.
• Physical — Involving physical items contaminating food, like fruit pips or hair.

Think about what could go wrong at each stage, from the moment ingredients arrive at your back door to when the final dish is served.

2. Determine critical control points (CCPS)

Once you know the hazards, you need to identify the critical control points. These are the specific stages in your process where you must apply a control to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a hazard to a safe level.

A common example is the cooking process, where reaching a specific temperature is vital to kill harmful bacteria.

3. Establish critical limits

For every CCP, you need to set a critical limit. This is a maximum or minimum value, like a temperature, time, or pH level, that must be met to make sure the hazard is prevented, eliminated, or under control.

If a dish doesn’t reach its required cooking temperature, it hasn’t met the critical limit and isn’t safe for consumption.

4. Establish monitoring procedures

You need a clear way to check that your CCPs stay within their critical limits. This involves regular monitoring, like recording fridge temperatures or using a probe to check core cooking temperatures. It’s about having a watchful eye on the points that matter most.

As part of this principle, it’s important to consider:

• How you’ll monitor critical limits
• How often you’ll monitor them
• Who in your business is responsible for carrying out the procedures

5. Establish corrective actions

Even with the best plans in place, things can occasionally go wrong, which is why you need to decide in advance what you will do if a critical limit isn’t met. These are called corrective actions.

Whether it’s reheating a dish or disposing of stock that has been kept at the wrong temperature, having clear corrective actions helps your team act quickly and safely.

6. Establish verification procedures

This step is all about proving that your HACCP plan actually works. It involves regularly reviewing your records and procedures to make sure the system is being followed correctly and is effective at keeping food safe.

These verification procedures could include testing your critical control points, product testing, internal audits, recalibrating equipment, and reviewing your temperature logs and cleaning schedules.

7. Establish record-keeping

The final principle is about documentation and having evidence of all your hard work. Keeping accurate records of your hazard analysis, your CCPs, and your monitoring results makes life much easier if you’re asked to prove them.

Having a clear digital or paper trail is essential for showing due diligence and your commitment to food safety during an EHO inspection. Read more about how to prepare for your next EHO inspection here.