HACCP checklist for a restaurant: what to build, what to check daily, weekly and monthly

A restaurant HACCP checklist has two halves: a build checklist (the seven steps that produce your plan) and a running checklist (the daily, weekly and monthly checks that prove you follow it). Most pages online give you only the first. The running half is what an inspector looks at, and every item on it should land in a log with a reading, a time, initials and an action. Both are below.

To get the logs written for your menu, find your restaurant and print the finished log, free.

Need the sheets that go with the checklist? Print the finished log for your menu, free. No card.

Part 1: the build checklist (once, then yearly)

HACCP has seven principles [1]. In a restaurant they turn into seven tasks:

1. List the hazards. For each dish, what can make a guest sick: raw chicken, rice held warm, a cooler running warm, cross-contact. Group dishes by how they are made (no cook, cook and serve, cook and cool).
2. Find the critical control points. The steps where one control stops the hazard: cooking, hot holding, cold holding, cooling, reheating, receiving. Critical control point examples shows them by dish.
3. Set limits. 41°F or below cold, 135°F or above hot, 165°F for poultry and reheating, 155°F ground meat, 145°F whole cuts and fish, cooling from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours and to 41°F within 4 more [2]. Use your state's number if stricter.
4. Decide how you monitor. Who checks, with what, how often.
5. Decide what happens when a limit is missed. Reheat, discard, move, call service.
6. Verify. Weekly review, thermometer calibration, an annual read of the plan.
7. Keep records. Logs, kept 90 days or longer. See HACCP record keeping.

A worked version is a HACCP plan example for a restaurant.

Part 2: the daily checklist

Part 3: the weekly checklist

• Manager reads the week's logs. Look for blank lines, readings out of range with no action, identical numbers every day (a sign of copying).
• Check labels and dates. Anything held past its date comes out. Ready-to-eat TCS food made on site is marked for 7 days at 41°F or below, counting the day it was made [2].
• Look at pests. Droppings, bait stations, door sweeps. Log it in the pest control log.
• Deep-clean one zone. Rotate: walk-in, then line, then dish area.
• Photograph the sheets. A dated folder is a backup.

Part 4: the monthly and yearly checklist

• Calibrate thermometers beyond the daily ice test: any that read more than 2°F off are replaced.
• Service equipment. Gaskets, coolers, dish machine temperatures.
• Retrain. New hires get the plan on day one; everyone gets a refresher. See training for restaurant staff.
• Review the plan. After a menu change, a new supplier, new equipment or a violation, and at least once a year.
• Check your certificates. Food protection manager and food handler cards expire.

What a checklist can't do

A tick in a box shows you looked, not what you found. A checklist that says "fridge OK" fails the test; the log that says "fridge 38°F, 7:05, J.M." passes it. Use checklists to remind and logs to prove. For the inspector's side of the same list, read the restaurant food safety inspection checklist.

Common mistakes

• Checking a surface, not the food. The cooler display can read 38°F while the product reads 44°F.
• Filling in sheets at the end of the day. It shows. Write the reading when you take it.
• No action column. A reading out of range with no action recorded is the entry that gets cited.
• One checklist for every kitchen. A pizzeria, a sushi bar and a bakery need different items. See the pizzeria plan and the sushi plan.
• Never reviewing. A checklist no manager reads is paperwork.

Paper, app or printed set

The same checklist works on a clipboard, in an app or in a printed binder. If staff skip paper, see the temperature log app comparison. If you want it ready-made for your menu, that is what the free log at the top and the $149 plan do.

A sample Tuesday, start to finish

A checklist only works when it fits the shift. Here is one ordinary day in a 40-seat kitchen with a lunch and dinner service.

• 6:45 a.m., opening cook. Reads the walk-in (38°F), reach-ins (39°F, 40°F) and freezer (-2°F). Writes them on the sheet on the door with the time and initials. Drops the probe in ice water: 32°F, within a degree, so no action.
• 8:30 a.m., produce delivery. Probe in a case of cut greens: 40°F, accepted. A tray of chicken from another supplier reads 44°F, so it is refused and the refusal is written in the receiving log with the driver's name.
• 11:00 a.m., line setup. Soup comes off the stove at 190°F and goes into the steam well. Hot holding sheet: 11:00, 165°F, then a check every two hours.
• 1:00 p.m., mid-shift. Cold line reads 41°F on one pan of sliced tomatoes. Manager moves them to the walk-in, notes it as a corrective action and rechecks in 30 minutes: 38°F.
• 3:30 p.m., batch cooling. Leftover soup in two shallow pans: 135°F at 3:30, 68°F at 5:00, in the walk-in at 41°F by 8:00. Three entries on the cooling log.
• 10:30 p.m., close. Everything covered, labelled and dated. Sanitizer bucket tested at the strength on the label. Closing cook signs the sheets.
• Friday. The manager reads the week, initials it and photographs the pages.

Nothing on that day takes more than a few minutes. What matters is that each entry is a number, a time and a name, and that the one out-of-range reading has an action next to it.

Adjust the checklist for the kind of kitchen

• Pizzeria. Add dough proofing time, cheese and cured topping holding at 41°F, and oven temperature checks. See the pizza plan.
• Sushi. Add rice acidity and the time rice is out of the cooker, and raw fish receiving and storage. See the sushi plan.
• Bakery or cafe. Add cream and custard filling holds, and egg handling. See the bakery plan.
• Food truck. Add water tank and handwashing station checks, and generator and cold storage on the road. See the food truck plan.
• Catering. Add transport temperature on departure and on arrival, and holding at the site. See the catering plan.

Who owns which line

A checklist fails when "everyone" owns it. Give each line a name. The opening cook owns the fridge readings, the receiving person owns the delivery log, the closing cook owns cleaning and sanitizer, and the manager owns the weekly review and the corrective actions. Write the names, or the role, on the top of the sheet. If someone is out, the manager reassigns the line before the shift starts, not after the sheet comes back blank.

What to do with a missed line

A checklist will have misses. What separates a pass from a citation is what happens next. When a reading is out of range, write the reading, then the action, then the recheck: "Walk-in 46°F at 7:05. Product probed 43°F, moved to reach-in, service called. Recheck 7:40: 41°F." When a line is simply blank, the manager signs it as a late entry with the real time, never back-fills it. An honest gap is a training point. A made-up row is a bigger problem than the miss.

Questions

What are the seven HACCP steps?

Hazard analysis, critical control points, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and record keeping [1].

How often should a restaurant check temperatures?

Fridges at opening and mid-shift; hot and cold holding at least every 2 hours; deliveries on arrival; cooling at set points within the cooling window.

Is there a free HACCP checklist PDF?

Yes, many exist. Check the first page for restaurant wording; a manufacturer's checklist will not fit a kitchen. A free plan template is a start.

Who signs the checklist?

The person who did the check initials each line; the manager signs the weekly review.

Does the checklist have to be in the plan?

It helps. The plan names the checks and the logs; the checklist is how the team carries them out.

How long do I keep completed checklists?

Keep them with your logs for at least 90 days, or longer if your health department says so.

Once the checks are running, test them with a HACCP audit checklist for a restaurant.

Sources

1. FDA, HACCP principles and application guidelines (NACMCF, 1997). https://www.fda.gov/food/hazard-analysis-critical-control-point-haccp/haccp-principles-application-guidelines
2. FDA Food Code, time and temperature control for safety food. https://www.fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-code

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