HACCP plan for school food service: what the program must contain and how to write it
A HACCP plan for school food service is required: a school that serves meals under the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program must have a food safety program based on HACCP principles at each site where food is prepared or served [1]. The program names the food safety steps, the temperatures, the monitoring and the records, and it is reviewed by the state agency and the local health department. It is a written program with logs, not a certificate. A restaurant plan is close to it, with a few school-specific parts.
If you run a school or other group kitchen and want the temperature logs ready, find your kitchen and print the finished log, free.
Writing a program for a school kitchen? Print the finished log for your menu, free. No card.
What the rule says
The federal school meal regulation (7 CFR 210.13) requires each school food authority to develop a food safety program for the preparation and service of school meals, and to base it on HACCP principles. It also requires that the program conform to any guidance from the school's local health authority, and that schools get at least two food safety inspections a year from the state or local agency [1]. Meals served to children are given extra care in the guidance because children are more at risk from foodborne illness.
Two points matter for a small operator. First, the rule is about the program, so a one-page temperature chart alone is not a program. Second, USDA has issued a guide (the HACCP guidance for school food service) and the states publish their own templates, which your state agency may require you to use. Ask for theirs before you write one.
School plan versus restaurant plan
| Restaurant | School food service | |
|---|---|---|
| Is a written program required? | Depends on state and process | Yes, for school meal programs [1] |
| Who reviews it? | Health department, if at all | State agency and local health authority |
| Menu | Many dishes, changes often | Set cycle menus, many served in volume |
| Hot holding | Held for service hours | Often cooked early, held, delivered to satellite sites |
| Allergens | Staff tell guests | Written allergy plans and diet orders for individual children |
| Records | Logs kept 90 days or more | Logs kept as the state requires, often longer |
If you have only run restaurant plans, read a HACCP plan for a restaurant first; a school program starts from the same temperature steps.
The six parts of a school food safety program
USDA's guidance groups the program in a way that you can follow in order:
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs). Handwashing, employee illness, cleaning, thermometers, pest control. These are the basics that sit under the HACCP part. See the eight parts of a food safety plan.
- Process groups. Sort menu items by how many times they pass through the danger zone: no cook (sandwiches, salads), same-day service (a hot entrée served right after cooking), and complex (cook, chill and reheat). The group tells you how many control points the item needs.
- Critical control points and limits. Cooking, holding, cooling, reheating: the same Food Code numbers. Poultry 165°F, ground meat 155°F, whole cuts 145°F, hot hold 135°F or above, cold hold 41°F or below [2].
- Monitoring. Who takes the reading, with which thermometer, how often.
- Corrective actions. What a cook does when a limit is missed.
- Records and review. Logs kept, weekly review by the manager, a yearly review of the whole program.
A daily routine for a school kitchen
- Arrival. Check fridges and freezers and write the readings on the refrigerator log. Test a probe thermometer in ice water.
- Receiving. Log cold deliveries at 41°F or below and frozen solid. See the receiving log.
- Cooking. Record the final temperature of each batch of meat, poultry and egg dishes.
- Holding. Check hot food before it leaves the kitchen and again on arrival at a satellite site; a transport box that has not held 135°F is a corrective action. See hot holding temperature.
- Cooling leftovers. Where the program allows saving food, record the cooling steps. See the cooling log.
- Close. Sanitize, record, and sign.
Records the reviewer will ask for
- The written program, with your menu's process groups.
- Temperature logs for the review period.
- Thermometer calibration records. See the calibration log.
- Training records for every food worker.
- Corrective-action entries with a date and a sign-off.
- Pest control and cleaning records.
How long to keep them is set by your state agency. HACCP record keeping covers the basics.
Common gaps in school plans
- The plan sits in a binder from a previous director. Update it whenever the menu cycle, equipment or site changes.
- Satellite sites are forgotten. Each site that receives food needs its own readings.
- Allergy plans are separate from the food safety program. Link them.
- Substitutes are not trained. Cover staff need the plan on day one. See training for kitchen staff.
- Holding times are not tracked. Food made at 7 a.m. and served at noon needs a hold check in between.
When a school gets a violation
Write what was cited, fix it the same day if possible and record the action. If a limit was missed repeatedly, change the process (a hotter holding unit, shorter holds) and update the program. A plan that records the fix is what a reviewer reads as control.
How to write a HACCP plan for school food service, step by step
- Get your state's template. Ask the state agency that administers school meals. Some states require their own format; using it saves a rewrite.
- List every menu item and sort it by process group. A cheese sandwich is a no-cook item. A baked chicken entrée served the same day is same-day service. Chili cooked on Monday, chilled and reheated Tuesday is a complex item and needs the most control points.
- Mark the control points per group. No-cook items: receiving and cold holding. Same-day items: add cooking and hot holding. Complex items: add cooling and reheating.
- Write one line per control point. Limit, who checks, how often, what to do when it fails, which log. Keep each to a sentence a substitute cook can follow.
- Add the SOPs. Handwashing, illness policy, cleaning schedule, thermometer use, pest control, allergen handling.
- Print the logs and pilot them for two weeks. Fix any column nobody uses.
- Train and sign. Every food worker reads the program and signs a training record. Date it.
- Review. After the pilot, after any menu change, and once a year.
Satellite and transported meals
Many districts cook in a central kitchen and send meals to other schools. Those meals travel in insulated carriers, and the program has to cover the trip. Record the temperature when food leaves, record it again when it arrives, and note the travel time. Hot food that arrives below 135°F, or cold food above 41°F, follows the same corrective action as a missed hold: reheat to 165°F if it can be done safely within the time rules, or discard. Receiving staff at the satellite site need their own sheet and the authority to reject a delivery. Without that, the central kitchen's logs say the food was safe and nobody can show it stayed that way.
Children and allergens
School meals add one control that restaurants handle by asking the guest: students with documented food allergies or diet orders. The program should say who keeps the list of students with diet orders, how a substitute meal is prepared without cross-contact (clean utensils, separate surfaces, a labelled tray), and who checks the tray before it leaves the line. Keep this in writing next to the temperature steps, because an allergen mistake is as serious as a temperature one and a reviewer will ask to see both.
Training and who is accountable
Name one person at each site who is responsible for the program, usually the kitchen manager, and one at district level who reviews it. Food workers need training in the basics before they handle food and a refresher through the year; keep the dates and topics on a sheet with each person's signature. When a worker is new or a substitute, the first task on day one is reading the control points that apply to their station and doing the first temperature check with the manager beside them. That one habit prevents most missed logs, because the person who has been shown how to read a probe once is the person who reads it on a busy morning.
Questions
Does every school need a HACCP plan?
Schools in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs need a food safety program based on HACCP principles at each food preparation or service site [1].
Who writes it?
The school food authority, often the food service director, using the state template where there is one.
How many inspections must a school have?
At least two food safety inspections a year by the state or local agency [1].
Are the temperatures different from a restaurant's?
The limits are the Food Code numbers. Your state or local authority may set stricter ones.
Can a private school or daycare use the same plan?
They have their own rules, but a program built on the same temperature steps works as a base. Check with your licensing agency.
Where do I start?
Ask your state agency for its template, list your menu's process groups, and set up the logs above. A free plan template gives you the layout.
Sources
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 7 CFR 210.13, facilities management (food safety program). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-210/subpart-C/section-210.13
- FDA Food Code, time and temperature control for safety food. https://www.fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-code
- USDA Food and Nutrition Service, food safety in school nutrition programs. https://www.fns.usda.gov/