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1. Lesson 1. What HACCP is and why it matters

   HACCP is a way of finding what could make food unsafe and controlling it before anyone gets ill. The law requires every food business to run a food safety system based on it, and you play a part in it every shift.

   What you will learn

   • Explain what HACCP stands for and why it prevents problems instead of testing for them.
   • Name the four types of food safety hazard, with examples.
   • Describe what the law requires of food businesses and their staff.
   • Tell prerequisites apart from critical control points, and describe your part in the system.

   Key points

   • HACCP means finding the hazards at each step and controlling the steps where control is critical.
   • The four types of hazard are microbiological, chemical, physical and allergenic.
   • The law requires every food business to run a system based on HACCP, matched to its size.
   • Prerequisites, such as cleaning and pest control, must be in place before HACCP can work.
   • Your part: follow procedures, do the checks, record real results, report problems.

   Based on: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (assimilated law in GB; EU law in Northern Ireland), Article 5 and Annex II Chapter XII; Food Safety Act 1990, section 21, and Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, Article 20; Food hygiene regulations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

2. Lesson 2. Hazards, flow diagrams and critical control points

   Before you can control hazards, you need to know where they are. This lesson follows the food through the kitchen step by step, and shows how a team decides which steps are critical.

   What you will learn

   • Describe the five preparation steps before the seven principles.
   • Read a simple flow diagram for a catering process.
   • Carry out a basic hazard analysis and choose control measures (principle 1).
   • Explain what makes a step a critical control point (principle 2).

   Key points

   • Prepare first: team, food description, intended use, flow diagram, check it on site.
   • Principle 1: at each step, list the hazards, judge the risk and choose control measures.
   • Principle 2: a CCP is a step where control is essential, with no later step to make the food safe.
   • A decision tree helps decide whether a step is a CCP.
   • Any new dish or method needs to be added to the analysis.

   Based on: Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene (CXC 1-1969); Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (assimilated law in GB; EU law in Northern Ireland), Article 5.

3. Lesson 3. Critical limits, monitoring and corrective action

   A critical control point only works if everyone knows the safe limit, checks it the same way every time, and knows exactly what to do when a check fails. This is the part of HACCP you will do with your own hands.

   What you will learn

   • Give typical critical limits for chilling, cooking, cooling, reheating and hot holding.
   • Describe how to monitor a CCP, including how to use and check a probe thermometer.
   • Choose the right corrective action when a critical limit is missed.
   • Explain why every result must be recorded honestly.

   Key points

   • Principle 3: a critical limit is a measurable value, such as a core temperature, that separates safe from unsafe.
   • Principle 4: monitoring says what is checked, how, when and by whom.
   • Principle 5: corrective action makes the food safe or throws it away, fixes the cause, and is recorded.
   • Use a clean, calibrated probe in the thickest part of the food.
   • Always record the real result.

   Based on: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (assimilated law in GB; EU law in Northern Ireland), Article 5; Temperature control rules in the hygiene regulations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland guidance.

4. Lesson 4. Verification, records and your food safety system

   A HACCP plan is only as good as the proof that it is being followed. This lesson covers how a business checks that its system works, the records it keeps, and the ready-made systems most small kitchens use.

   What you will learn

   • Explain verification and validation, with examples (principle 6).
   • Describe the documents and records a HACCP-based system needs (principle 7).
   • Know when the system must be reviewed.
   • Name the ready-made systems used in each part of the UK.

   Key points

   • Principle 6: validation proves a control works before you rely on it; verification checks that the whole system keeps working.
   • Principle 7: documentation is the plan; records prove it is being followed.
   • Records must be honest, made at the time, legible and signed.
   • Review the system at least yearly and whenever anything changes.
   • Small caterers can use Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB), CookSafe or Safe Catering, if they fill it in to match what they really do.

   Based on: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (assimilated law in GB; EU law in Northern Ireland), Article 5; Food Safety Act 1990, section 21, and Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, Article 20; Safer Food, Better Business, CookSafe, Safe Catering and MyHACCP.

HygieneReady certificates confirm completion of training. They are not a regulated qualification. Definitions of the key terms are in the glossary.