All UK food businesses must keep up-to-date records as part of their HACCP-based food safety management system under Regulation (EC) 852/2004. Records demonstrate legal compliance and provide evidence of due diligence during inspections and food safety incidents.
Why keep food safety records?
Food safety records serve multiple purposes: proving you meet legal requirements, demonstrating due diligence if a food safety problem occurs, helping you track and manage food safety controls effectively, and providing evidence during local authority inspections. Records may be used in legal proceedings.
- Record format
- Electronic or printed (both acceptable for inspections)
- Availability requirement
- Available for inspection at all times
- SFBB diary records
- Daily opening/closing checks and any problems
- SFBB record retention
- Until next local authority visit
- Traceability records retention
- Good practice: shelf life plus 12 months
- Temperature monitoring
- Fridge, freezer, chilled display temperatures daily
- Cooking records
- Core temperatures for critical items
- Cleaning schedules
- What was cleaned, when, and by whom
- Supplier information
- Names, addresses, contact details of all suppliers
- Staff training records
- Staff name, date, type of training, trainer details
- Corrective actions
- Problems identified, actions taken, by whom, when
- Delivery checks
- Condition of food, packaging, temperature on arrival
- HACCP plan reviews
- Dates reviewed, changes made, reasons for changes
SFBB daily diary requirements
Businesses using Safer Food Better Business must complete the diary every day. The diary records:
- Opening checks: Fridge/freezer temperatures and operation, staff fitness for work and clean work clothes, preparation areas clean and disinfected, probe thermometer working and probe wipes available
- Closing checks: End-of-day temperatures, cleaning completed, food stored correctly
- Problems and actions: Any issues that occurred during the day and what you did about them
- Extra checks: Additional monitoring advised in your safe methods section
Traceability records
Food businesses must maintain traceability - knowing where food came from and where it went. This includes:
- Supplier names, addresses, and contact details for all food and ingredients
- Delivery dates and batch/lot numbers
- Customer information for wholesale/retail supply (where applicable)
- Dates food was supplied to customers
Traceability records help quickly identify and remove unsafe food from the supply chain during food safety incidents. Good practice retention period is the product's shelf life plus 12 months.
Records required for inspections
Local authority food safety officers will check your records during inspections. They will look for:
- Evidence that monitoring is happening daily (temperature logs, cleaning records)
- Complete and up-to-date diary entries (if using SFBB)
- Records of corrective actions when problems occur
- Staff training documentation
- Supplier information and traceability
- Regular reviews of your food safety system
Missing or incomplete records may result in a lower food hygiene rating or enforcement action.