HACCP plan for ground beef: receiving, grinding, cooking and holding burgers

Ground beef is riskier than a steak because grinding mixes the surface of the meat, where bacteria live, through the whole batch. A restaurant plan for ground beef has five control points: receive it at 41°F or below, keep it cold and use it fast, clean the grinder if you grind in house, cook it to 155°F for 17 seconds (or an equal time-and-temperature pair), and stop cross-contamination between raw patties and everything else. This page gives limits, worked rows and a daily log for a burger restaurant, a pub, a butcher counter or any kitchen that sells burgers, meatballs, meatloaf or taco meat.

Free logs are on the logs page. Numbers come from the FDA Food Code and USDA; your health department's adopted version decides, so confirm them before you print the plan.

Do you need a written HACCP plan for ground beef?

Most restaurants do not file a separate plan for ground beef. A retail restaurant is covered by the Food Code, not by the USDA plant rules, and ground beef is handled inside the general food safety plan as one of the high-risk foods [1]. A written ground beef section is still worth having, because the rules change by how you serve it: a well-done burger, a burger cooked to order, a house-ground blend and a steak tartare are four different plans. Some health departments do ask for a written plan or a variance when you grind your own meat for sale, cure or age it, or vacuum pack it. If that is you, ask before you start grinding.

For the structure of a whole plan, see the food safety plan template and the HACCP plan for a restaurant guide. If your shop cuts and grinds as a main business, read the butcher shop plan too.

What can go wrong with ground beef

The hazard to plan for is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, usually written STEC, with E. coli O157:H7 the best known. It lives in the gut of cattle and gets onto the surface of carcasses. On a whole steak the surface is seared and the inside stays sterile. In ground beef the surface is ground in, so a burger cooked to medium rare can still carry live bacteria in the middle. CDC lists beef as a repeat source of STEC outbreaks, and the illness can be severe, especially in children and older adults [2]. Salmonella and Listeria are also possible, but STEC sets the cooking limit.

Hazard	Where it appears	What controls it
STEC (E. coli O157:H7 and others)	Raw ground beef, grinder parts, patty press, gloves	Cooking to 155°F for 17 seconds; cold storage; cleaning the grinder
Growth during storage	Meat left out while patties are formed	41°F or below; small batches; a time limit out of the cooler
Cross-contamination	Raw patties over produce or cooked food; hands; tongs; the flat-top	Shelf order; separate utensils; hand washing
Undercooked burgers	Burgers ordered medium or medium rare	Consumer advisory; not served to highly susceptible customers
Growth in cooked meat	Taco meat, chili, sloppy joe mix on a steam table	Hot hold at 135°F; cooling and reheating rules
Foreign material	Metal or bone from the grinder	Inspect the plate and blade; visual check of the output

The flow

Receive ground beef or whole cuts for grinding
Store cold, below ready-to-eat food
Grind, mix and form patties (if done in house)
Cook to order or in batches
Hold hot, or cool for later
Reheat what was cooled
Serve, with the consumer advisory where needed

Receiving ground beef

Buy ground beef and beef for grinding from an approved source: a supplier that is inspected by USDA or the state, and whose label shows the establishment number. Check the temperature at the door with a probe pushed into the center of a package: 41°F or below for fresh, and hard frozen for frozen [1]. Reject any package that is torn, leaking, warm to the touch, past its use-by date or has a gray-green slime. If the box was held on a dock for an hour, probe more than one package. The receiving temperature log guide has the form and the reject wording.

Limit: 41°F or below fresh; frozen solid; sealed, dated, with the plant number.
Monitoring: probe at every delivery; look at the label and the package.
Corrective action: reject the package and note the supplier, lot and driver; do not move it to the cooler "for now."

Keep the label or the invoice for each lot for at least 90 days. If a recall happens you can then tell which lot went into which burgers. The 90 days is a good habit, not a Food Code figure for ground beef; your health department may set its own period.

Storing ground beef

Store raw ground beef at 41°F or below on the bottom shelf, below ready-to-eat food, produce, cooked food and whole cuts, and above nothing. The Food Code shelf order from top to bottom puts ready-to-eat food first, then seafood, whole cuts of beef and pork, then ground meat, then poultry at the bottom, because each needs a higher cooking temperature than the one above it [1]. Keep raw ground beef in a covered pan with a lip so juices cannot drip. Date the pan when it is opened. Many kitchens set a use-by of 2 to 3 days from receiving for fresh ground beef and 1 day for patties formed in house; this is a plan choice, not a Food Code number, so write the number you will actually keep to.

Check the cooler with the routine in the walk-in cooler log guide. Frozen patties are thawed in the cooler on a tray, under cold running water, or as part of cooking; not on the counter.

Grinding and forming patties in house

Grinding is where a house burger gets its best flavor and its biggest risk. The plan should say how you keep the meat cold and the equipment clean:

Grind from cold meat. Take only what you will grind in the next 20 to 30 minutes out of the cooler. Chill the grinder head and the pan before you start; many cooks put the parts in the freezer.
Grind raw meat alone. Never grind beef that has been cooked, or beef that has already been on the line, back into a fresh batch.
Clean and sanitize between batches. Take the grinder apart: head, plate, blade, auger and tray. Wash, rinse, sanitize with your approved sanitizer at the right strength and air dry. Never leave the grinder assembled and wet overnight.
Keep a lot record. Write the lot numbers of the beef that went into each batch, the date and who ground it.
Form patties quickly. Work in small batches, put formed patties in the cooler right away, and wash your hands after touching raw beef.
Do not blend different lots in a way you cannot trace. If you must, write it down.

Grinding steak trim for burgers is common. Whatever the cut, the surface of the meat ends up inside the patty, so the burger is cooked to the ground meat limit below.

Cooking burgers: the 155°F rule

The Food Code limit for ground meat is 155°F held for 17 seconds [1]. The same table gives equivalent pairs: higher temperature for less time (158°F for an instant), lower for longer (150°F for 1 minute, 145°F for 3 minutes). Most kitchens teach one number and one habit: probe the center of the thickest patty, read it for 17 seconds and write the number. USDA's home guidance for ground beef is 160°F, which is the number you will see on consumer sites; the 155°F in the Food Code is for professional kitchens that measure carefully [3]. Pick one number and tell your staff. If cooks cannot tell 155°F from 160°F by sight, which they cannot, the probe is the control.

Limit: 155°F for 17 seconds in the center of the thickest patty.
Monitoring: probe a patty from every batch on the flat-top or grill, and at set times on a busy line. Wipe and sanitize the probe between patties.
Corrective action: keep cooking and probe again.

Do not rely on juice color or the color of the meat. Beef can look brown before it is safe and pink after it is. Calibrate the probe on a schedule with the thermometer calibration log.

Burgers cooked to order and the consumer advisory

A customer can ask for a burger medium or medium rare. The Food Code allows an undercooked ground beef burger if the menu has a consumer advisory: a plain statement that eating undercooked meat raises the risk of foodborne illness, with an asterisk on the dish, either as a line on the menu or on a table tent [1]. Two further limits apply:

Do not serve an undercooked burger to a highly susceptible population: nursing homes, hospitals, preschools and similar settings. In those places ground beef is cooked through.
Do not serve undercooked burgers on a children's menu. A child under five is the person most at risk from STEC.

Check your health department for wording and the exact rules; some places require a written policy that says how the customer is told. If you serve rare burgers as a house style, use whole-muscle beef that you grind to order from a clean cut, keep the grinder spotless, and still write it down.

Holding cooked ground beef

Taco meat, chili, sloppy joe mix, meatballs and burger patties held for a rush are hot-held at 135°F or above [1]. Cook the meat to 155°F first, move it to the steam table at once, and probe it at least every 2 hours. The hot holding temperature guide explains why a steam table reads low and what to do. If a pan drops under 135°F, reheat it once to 165°F within 2 hours or throw it out. Do not use a steam table to heat food up; it keeps food hot, it does not cook it.

Cooling and reheating

Leftover cooked ground beef cools in two stages: from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, and from 70°F to 41°F within 4 more hours, 6 hours in all [1]. Spread it thin in shallow pans, not a deep pot. The cooling log guide has the methods. Reheat cooled beef to 165°F within 2 hours before it goes back on the line, as set out in the reheating temperature log guide. Reheat only once.

Preventing cross-contamination

A raw patty is a source of bacteria for everything near it. The rules that matter most on a burger line:

Use a separate spatula, tongs and tray for raw and cooked patties. Color-code them if you can.
Never put a cooked patty back on the tray that held the raw patty.
Wash hands after handling raw patties, before touching buns, cheese, lettuce or the register.
Do not wipe a raw-beef board and then slice tomatoes on it. Use a separate board or wash, rinse and sanitize first.
Sanitize the flat-top scraper, the press and the probe on a schedule.

Worked plan rows for ground beef

Step	Hazard	Limit	Monitoring	If it fails	Record
Receive	Growth in transit	41°F or below; frozen solid; sealed with plant number	Probe each delivery	Reject	Receiving log
Store	Growth; drip onto other food	41°F or below; bottom shelf	Cooler log	Move; discard if over 4 h above 41°F	Cooler log
Grind	STEC spread; warm meat	Cold meat; clean, sanitized grinder; lot recorded	Visual; lot sheet	Stop; clean again; discard warm meat	Grind sheet
Form patties	Growth; hands	Small batches; back to cooler at once	Timer	Discard patties out more than 2 h	Prep sheet
Cook	STEC	155°F for 17 seconds (or equal pair)	Probe every batch	Keep cooking	Cook log
Cook to order, under limit	STEC	Advisory on menu; not for high-risk guests	Menu check	Cook through for those guests	Menu
Hold hot	Growth	135°F or above	Probe every 2 h	Reheat once to 165°F or discard	Hold log
Cool	Growth	135°F to 70°F in 2 h; to 41°F in 6 h total	Probe at 2 h and 6 h	Reheat to 165°F and cool again, or discard	Cooling log

A daily ground beef log

Example entries showing how rows read, not records:

Time	Item	Reading	Initials	Action
7:30 a.m.	Delivery, ground beef 40 lb	38°F	MK	Accepted; lot 4471 filed
10:15 a.m.	Grinder cleaned and sanitized	Sanitizer 200 ppm	MK	None
10:30 a.m.	House blend, 30 lb ground	Meat 36°F in	MK	Lot 4471 and 4468 recorded
11:40 a.m.	First burger of lunch	158°F	DS	None
1:10 p.m.	Taco meat, steam table	131°F	DS	Under 135°F; reheated to 167°F; held 142°F
3:00 p.m.	Leftover chili, 2 pans	135°F to 68°F in 1 h 40 min	MK	None; at 41°F by 6:30 p.m.

Keep records as long as your health department requires; if unsure, a year is a safe default.

Common mistakes

Cooking burgers by sight. Probe at least one per batch.
Leaving the grinder assembled overnight. Take it apart and sanitize it.
Forming patties for a whole day in the morning and leaving them on the counter. Small batches, back in the cooler.
Using one pair of tongs for raw and cooked patties.
Storing raw ground beef above produce or cooked food.
Serving a medium-rare burger to kids with no advisory on the menu.
Reheating taco meat on the steam table.

Questions

What temperature should ground beef be cooked to?

155°F for 17 seconds under the Food Code for commercial kitchens. USDA tells home cooks to reach 160°F. Pick the number your health department uses and probe the thickest patty.

What temperature should ground beef be stored at?

41°F or below for fresh. Keep it on the bottom shelf and use it within a few days of the date you set in your plan.

Can I serve a medium-rare burger?

In most places yes, with a consumer advisory on the menu and not to highly susceptible guests. Check your health department.

Do I need to keep lot records for ground beef?

It is not a fixed Food Code rule for ground beef, but a lot record lets you trace a recall to the burgers that used it. Ninety days is a sensible default.

How do I clean a meat grinder?

Take it apart, wash every part in hot soapy water, rinse, sanitize at the strength on the sanitizer label, and air dry. Do not leave it assembled.

Where do I get logs?

Use the free sheets on our logs page and add the ground beef rows from the example above.