17 June 2026
LearnHow to Create a HACCP Plan for a Farm Shop or Food Business
This guide is for information only. Food safety law is complex and penalties for non-compliance can be severe. Always consult your local authority environmental health team and a qualified food safety professional before opening a food business.
HACCP is a legal requirement — not optional
Any business preparing, processing or selling food to the public in the UK must implement HACCP-based food safety procedures under Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. This applies to farm shops, direct meat sales, egg packing, jam and preserve production, and glamping operators serving food to guests. You must also register with your local authority at least 28 days before starting to trade.
HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. It sounds technical — and the full system can be — but the core idea is straightforward: identify where things could go wrong with food safety in your operation, put controls in place at those points, and keep records to prove the controls are working.
This guide walks through all seven HACCP principles with practical examples for farm shops, honesty box sellers, direct meat producers and anyone running a food business from a smallholding or farm.
The three types of food safety hazard
Before you can analyse hazards, you need to know what you're looking for. Food safety hazards fall into three categories:
| Biological hazards | Source | Control |
|---|---|---|
| E. coli / Salmonella | Raw meat, unpasteurised milk, unwashed veg | Cooking to 75°C core temp, separation from ready-to-eat foods |
| Listeria monocytogenes | Ready-to-eat chilled products, soft cheese, smoked fish | Temperature control below 5°C, use-by dates, cleaning schedule |
| Campylobacter | Raw poultry — most common foodborne illness in UK | Cooking to 75°C, preventing cross-contamination from raw poultry |
| Norovirus / Hepatitis A | Handlers with illness, contaminated water | Hand hygiene, sick handler exclusion policy |
| Chemical hazards | Source | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Pesticide residue | Unwashed fruit and vegetables | Washing protocols, sourcing from approved suppliers with records |
| Cleaning product residue | Inadequate rinsing after cleaning | Correct dilution, contact time, thorough rinsing, rinse records |
| Allergen cross-contact | Shared equipment, undeclared ingredients | Allergen management plan, separate equipment, clear labelling |
| Veterinary drug residue | Meat from animals within withdrawal period | Supplier assurance, withdrawal period records from farm |
| Physical hazards | Source | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Bone fragments | Butchery — especially poultry and pork | Visual inspection, trained staff, metal detection where feasible |
| Metal fragments | Worn equipment, blades, wire | Equipment maintenance schedule, visual inspection, magnet on lines |
| Glass | Broken jars, light covers, bottles | No glass policy in prep areas, glass breakage procedure |
| Pest contamination | Rodents, insects — droppings, hair, larvae | Pest control contract, proofing, daily checks, cleaning records |
The seven HACCP principles
Principle 1: Conduct a Hazard Analysis
List every step in your process from goods-in to customer sale. For each step, identify all potential biological, chemical and physical hazards. Ask: what could go wrong here and cause harm? Write them all down — even unlikely ones. You will assess their significance in the next step.
Example — farm shop preparing cooked pies
Steps: raw ingredient delivery → cold storage → preparation → cooking → cooling → chilled display → sale. Hazards at the cooking step include undercooking (biological), wrong recipe (chemical — allergens), and equipment contamination (physical).
Principle 2: Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs)
A Critical Control Point is a step where a control measure is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard, or reduce it to an acceptable level. Use the CCP decision tree: can you control the hazard at this step? If not controlled here, will it be controlled later? The last step where you can reliably control a hazard is your CCP.
Example — farm shop selling cooked meats
Typical CCPs: cooking temperature (last chance to kill pathogens), chilled storage temperature (controls pathogen growth), and allergen labelling check (last control before sale).
Principle 3: Establish Critical Limits
For each CCP, set measurable critical limits — the boundary between safe and potentially unsafe. These must be specific, measurable and based on scientific evidence or legal requirements. If a critical limit is breached, the product is at risk and corrective action is required.
Example critical limits
Cooking: core temperature must reach 75°C (or 70°C for 2 minutes). Chilled storage: fridge must remain below 5°C at all times. Allergen check: declaration must be visible and accurate before products go on display.
Principle 4: Establish a Monitoring System
Define how you will check each CCP is being controlled, how often, and who is responsible. Monitoring must happen at a frequency that gives confidence the process is under control. Records must be kept — monitoring without records is not HACCP.
Example monitoring
Cook temperature: probe every batch, record on a cooking log with time, product, probe reading and operator signature. Fridge temperature: minimum/maximum thermometer checked and recorded every morning before opening.
Principle 5: Establish Corrective Actions
Define in advance what you will do if a critical limit is breached. Who decides? What happens to the product? How do you fix the process? Pre-agreed corrective actions prevent panic decisions and ensure the response is consistent and documented.
Example corrective actions
Core temp did not reach 75°C: return to oven, re-probe, record. Fridge found above 8°C: check all products, assess shelf life, move stock, call engineer, do not sell products that have been above 8°C for unknown duration. Document everything.
Principle 6: Establish Verification Procedures
Verification confirms the HACCP plan is working as intended. This is separate from monitoring — monitoring is checking CCPs day to day; verification checks that the monitoring and corrective actions are effective over time.
Example verification
Quarterly review of all monitoring records to check they are being completed correctly. Annual review of the HACCP plan whenever the menu, process or suppliers change. Occasional microbiological testing of finished products.
Principle 7: Establish Documentation and Record Keeping
HACCP must be documented. This means: your written HACCP plan, your monitoring records, your corrective action records, and your verification records. Records must be kept for a minimum of 2 years for most food businesses.
Documentation doesn't need to be complex
A simple fridge temperature log, a daily opening checklist, and a cooking temperature record are enough for a small farm shop operation. They must be completed consistently and signed off. An Environmental Health Officer will ask to see them.
Example HACCP table for a farm shop
The core document in any HACCP plan is a table listing each CCP, its critical limit, how it is monitored, and what happens when the limit is breached:
| CCP | Hazard | Critical limit | Monitoring | Corrective action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooking (pies) | Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli | Core ≥75°C | Probe every batch, log time + temp + operator | Return to oven, re-probe, do not sell until limit met, record |
| Chilled display | Pathogen growth | Fridge <5°C | Min/max thermometer — check and record each morning | Remove stock, investigate, do not sell if duration above limit unknown |
| Allergen labelling | Undeclared allergens | All 14 allergens declared | Check label against recipe before display — initialled sign-off | Remove from sale, correct label, re-check, document |
| Raw/cooked separation | Cross-contamination | Zero contact at all times | Visual check — separate prep areas, colour-coded boards | Remove product, clean and disinfect, investigate, document |
This is a simplified example. Your HACCP plan must reflect the specific hazards and processes in your operation.
Records you must keep
The most common reason a small food business fails an EHO inspection is not that their food safety system is bad — it is that they have no records to prove it is working. Keep these as a minimum:
- Fridge and freezer temperature logs — check and record min/max temperature every morning before opening
- Cooking temperature records — every batch: product name, time, probe reading, operator initials
- Cleaning schedule — daily, weekly and periodic tasks with completion sign-off, dated
- Allergen management records — recipe allergen matrix, labelling check before products go on display
- Supplier records — who you buy from and what assurances they provide
- Staff training records — date, name, what was covered, food hygiene certificate copies
- Corrective action records — every time a critical limit is breached, document what happened and what you did
- HACCP plan review records — date of annual review, what changed, who conducted it
Records must be kept for a minimum of two years. A few products that make record keeping straightforward:
- Food hygiene and temperature log book — pre-formatted daily record sheets for fridge temps, cooking temps and cleaning. Saves designing your own from scratch.
- Digital food probe thermometer — essential for cooking temperature records. Calibrated probes are recommended — a basic model is fine for most small operations.
- Min/max fridge thermometer — records the highest and lowest temperature reached since last reset. Tells you if the fridge spiked overnight even if it looks fine in the morning.
- Allergen label stickers — pre-printed labels for the 14 major allergens, used on packaging and display. Saves hand-writing allergen information on every product.
- Colour-coded chopping board set — the simplest practical control for raw/cooked separation. Red for raw meat, green for vegetables, white for dairy and cooked foods.
Free UK resources to get started
- FSA myHACCP tool — free online tool from the Food Standards Agency that walks you through building a HACCP plan step by step and produces a downloadable plan at the end. The best starting point for most small food businesses.
- FSA Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) — pre-packed food safety management system for small caterers and retailers. Includes ready-made diary sheets for temperature records and cleaning schedules. Accepted by most EHOs as equivalent to a HACCP plan for simple operations.
- Food Hygiene Rating Scheme — your business will be inspected and rated 0-5 once you register. Understanding how inspectors assess businesses helps you prepare. Aim for a 5.
Key advice for farm businesses
- Register with your local authority environmental health team before you start trading — failure to register is a criminal offence
- Your HACCP plan must be specific to your operation — a generic template is a starting point, not a finished document
- Review your HACCP plan whenever your menu, process, suppliers or premises change significantly — and at least once a year
- Get a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate — it is not a legal requirement but it is the single most cost-effective thing you can do to understand food safety
- Contact your local authority EHO before opening — many offer a free pre-inspection advisory visit for new food businesses
Planning a farm food business?
Check the numbers before you commit. Our free calculators help you model profit potential for eggs, meat, glamping and more.
Ready to list your farm food business?
Once you're registered and compliant, list your stall or farm shop on The Farm Stall so local buyers can find you. Free to list, no card required.