A HACCP Plan for a Small Kitchen: A Worked Example

Reading the seven principles of HACCP in the abstract only gets you so far. Here’s what they actually look like applied to one real, everyday task in a small kitchen: cooking chicken.

1. Hazard analysis

Raw chicken can carry Campylobacter and Salmonella — bacteria that cause serious food poisoning if the chicken isn’t cooked thoroughly enough to kill them.

2. Critical control point

The cooking step itself. This is the one point in the process that actually destroys the hazard — everything before it (storage, prep) matters, but cooking is where the bacteria are eliminated.

3. Critical limit

A core temperature of 75°C, or a safe time/temperature equivalent such as 70°C held for two minutes.

4. Monitoring

Every batch of chicken is checked with a probe thermometer, inserted into the thickest part, before it leaves the pass. The result is noted on a temperature log.

5. Corrective action

If a probe check reads below 75°C, the chicken goes back on to cook further and is re-checked — it doesn’t leave the kitchen until it passes. If a batch is found to be seriously under-temperature after the fact, it’s discarded, not served.

6. Verification

The probe thermometer is calibrated weekly using the ice-water and boiling-water method, and the temperature log is reviewed regularly to check checks are actually happening consistently, not just on paper.

7. Record-keeping

Every check goes in the daily temperature log, kept on file. If anything ever goes wrong, this is the evidence that shows the process was followed properly, day after day.

The same pattern, every time

This exact seven-step shape applies to chilled storage, reheating, cooling cooked food quickly, and every other genuine hazard in a kitchen — identify it, find the control point, set a measurable limit, check it, know what to do if it fails, verify the system works, and write it down. Once you’ve seen it applied once, the rest follows the same logic.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a separate HACCP plan for every single dish I cook?

No — you build it around genuine hazards and processes (cooking raw meat, cooling food, chilled storage), which usually cover many different dishes under the same controls, rather than one plan per menu item.

Can I use this exact example as my own HACCP record?

Use it to understand the shape of the process, but write your own based on your actual kitchen, equipment and menu — a real HACCP record needs to reflect what you genuinely do, not a generic template.

Is Safer Food, Better Business the same as HACCP?

Yes — SFBB is the Food Standards Agency’s own simplified HACCP system, built specifically so small businesses can meet the legal requirement without writing an industrial-style document from scratch.