HACCP critical control points examples for a restaurant kitchen

A critical control point (CCP) is the step where you can stop a food safety hazard and no later step will fix it. In a restaurant the usual CCPs are cooking, hot holding, cold holding, cooling and reheating, each with a number you can measure: 165°F for poultry, 135°F for hot food, 41°F for cold food. Handwashing and cleaning matter just as much, but they are usually prerequisite programs, not CCPs.

This guide gives restaurant examples with their limits, shows how to test a step with the decision tree, lists what is not a CCP, and warns about the most common mistake: calling everything a CCP. The seven-step method is in HACCP plan for a restaurant; here we go deep on principle 2, finding the points.

What makes a step a critical control point

Three tests, in plain words:

1. There is a real hazard at this step, such as bacteria that survive or grow.
2. A control at this step removes it or keeps it at a safe level (heat kills it, cold stops it growing).
3. If you miss it here, no later step catches it. Once undercooked chicken is on the plate, nothing between the pass and the table kills what survived.

The FDA's HACCP guidelines call this principle 2 and include a decision tree to test steps [1]. We walk it below.

Critical control points in a restaurant: examples with limits

The limits below are the FDA Food Code values [2]. Your state or city may be stricter (New York City writes 140°F for hot holding), so use the local number.

Raw shellfish tags (kept for 90 days), parasite destruction for raw fish, and the acidity of sushi rice are CCPs for restaurants that serve those foods. See the sushi restaurant plan for those rows. Vacuum-sealed or cooked-in-bag food has its own control points: see the sous vide plan.

What is not a critical control point

Many safety practices are essential and still are not CCPs. They are prerequisite programs, the base the plan sits on:

• Handwashing and glove use. Cannot be measured as a number per batch; run by training, sinks and supervision.
• Cleaning and sanitizing. Checked with sanitizer test strips on a schedule.
• Pest control, waste, plumbing. Handled by contractors and routine inspection.
• Employee health policy. A written policy: report symptoms, stay home.
• Allergen labelling and separation. Controlled by procedure, with checks.
• Thermometer calibration. A verification step.

A plan that makes all of these CCPs ends up with forty "critical" points, and staff stop reading it. Keep CCPs for the steps with a number and a point of no return; put the rest in your prerequisite checklist.

The decision tree, worked on three kitchen steps

The Codex tree, which the FDA reproduces, asks four questions for each step where a hazard exists [1]. Here they are in kitchen words:

1. Is there a control measure for the hazard at this step or a later one? If no, change the process or stop; if yes, go on.
2. Is this step designed to remove the hazard or cut it to a safe level? If yes, it is a CCP. If no, go on.
3. Could the hazard get to an unsafe level, or contamination happen, at this step? If no, not a CCP. If yes, go on.
4. Will a later step remove it or cut it to a safe level? If yes, this is not a CCP; if no, it is a CCP.

The walk-in result surprises people. Cold storage of raw chicken is not a CCP for that chicken because cooking will kill the bacteria later. But for a ready-to-eat item, such as sliced deli meat or cut melon, there is no later cooking, so cold holding is a CCP. The same unit can serve both kinds of food; the plan treats the unit as a CCP and keeps it simple.

Many regulators and templates simply list cooking, holding, cooling and reheating as the CCPs. That is a reasonable starting point; use the tree for the odd steps.

Examples by menu group

• Burger and fries place: ground beef cooking (155°F), hot holding of cooked patties, cold holding of toppings and sauces, receiving.
• Pizzeria: cold holding on the prep table (a very common citation, see cold holding temperature), cooking of meats, hot holding of finished slices.
• Buffet or catering: hot holding (hot holding temperature), cold holding, cooling of leftovers, transport.
• Soups, stews and sauces: cooling, reheating, hot holding.
• Taco or food truck: as above with a small cooler: see food truck HACCP plan.

One more worked example: a pot of chili

Walk a single dish through the kitchen and the points show up in order. Raw ground beef arrives at 41°F or below: receiving is a check, not usually a CCP, because cooking comes later. The beef is cooked to 155°F: that is a CCP, probed in the thickest part of the pan. The chili is then held hot at 135°F or above for service: a CCP, probed every two hours. At close, a 20-quart pot of chili holds heat for hours if you leave it on the stove, so cooling is the CCP most likely to fail. Split it into shallow pans, stir with an ice wand, log the temperature at two hours (70°F or below) and at six hours (41°F or below). The next day, reheating to 165°F within two hours is the last CCP before it goes back on the line. Five checks, three CCPs with logs, one dish. Written once for the group "cooked, cooled and reheated sauces and soups", the same rows cover every soup and stew on the menu.

Writing a CCP row

Every CCP gets the same five facts. If one is missing, it is not finished.

1. Hazard in a few words.
2. Critical limit, a number with a unit.
3. Monitoring: who, with what, how often.
4. Corrective action: what happens to the food and the equipment.
5. Record: the log where it is written. Start with the temperature log sheet or print the free temperature logs.

Common mistakes with critical control points

• Too many CCPs. Five to eight per menu group is plenty. Move the rest to prerequisites.
• No number. "Cook thoroughly" is not a limit.
• Wrong place. Putting a CCP where a later step would fix the problem; or missing a ready-to-eat food that has no later step.
• Limits copied from a manufacturing plan. Metal detectors and pasteurizers are not on your line.
• CCP with no corrective action. Inspectors read this column first.
• Never reviewing. New dish, new CCP. Re-check the tree whenever the menu changes.

Questions

What are the critical control points in a restaurant?

Usually cooking, hot holding, cold holding, cooling, reheating and receiving for high-risk foods, plus specialized steps such as raw fish freezing or sushi rice acidity if you serve them.

Is handwashing a critical control point?

Normally no. It is a prerequisite program: essential, controlled by training and facilities, not by a measured limit at one step.

How many CCPs should a plan have?

As few as the hazards require, often a handful per menu group. A long list weakens the plan.

Is cold storage a CCP?

For ready-to-eat food with no later cooking, yes. For raw meat that will be cooked, it is monitored but usually treated as a prerequisite step, since cooking is the CCP.

What is the difference between a CCP and a control point?

A CCP is a point where loss of control leads to an unsafe food and nothing later can fix it. A control point is any step where a hazard can be controlled, but a later step can still catch a failure.

Do I need the decision tree?

It helps for unusual steps. For standard cooking, holding and cooling, the Food Code limits already tell you what to monitor.

If you would like the CCP table written from your actual menu, with the logs ready to print, start with the free temperature logs.

Sources

1. HACCP principles and application guidelines (principle 2 and the CCP decision tree), U.S. Food and Drug Administration
2. FDA Food Code (cooking, holding, cooling and reheating limits), U.S. Food and Drug Administration
3. Safe minimum internal temperature chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
4. Critical control points publication FS140, University of Florida IFAS Extension

Related: all food safety guides.