HACCP, cleaning and passing an inspection

Amara HACCP. Every time somebody says it I stop listening.

Nadia Then let us drop the acronym, because the idea underneath it is genuinely simple. Where in your process could something make somebody ill. What has to be true at that point for it to be safe. How do you check. Write it down. And what do you do when the check fails.

Amara That is it?

Nadia That is the whole thing. Hazard, control point, limit, monitoring, corrective action. A delivery arriving at twelve degrees is a hazard, at a control point, with a limit breached, and the corrective action is reject it and record that you did.

Amara In a small kitchen, what does that look like in practice?

Nadia The Safer Food Better Business pack, and the daily diary at the back of it. That diary is the evidence.

Amara It feels like paperwork for its own sake.

Nadia It feels that way right up until an inspection. Picture two kitchens, both spotless. One has a completed diary, the other has an empty one.

Amara The second one has no system.

Nadia As far as anybody can prove, correct. And it will be scored that way, because a check that was not recorded is indistinguishable from a check that never happened.

Amara Let us do cleaning. We spray and wipe.

Nadia Then you are doing very little, and this is the most common gap in small kitchens. Sanitiser needs a clean surface and it needs contact time.

Amara Contact time?

Nadia The number on the bottle. Usually somewhere between thirty seconds and five minutes, during which the surface has to stay wet. Almost nobody has ever read it.

Amara So what should I do?

Nadia Two stages. Clean first with detergent to remove the soil and grease. Then disinfect the now clean surface and leave it wet for the stated time. One spray and an immediate wipe achieves close to nothing except a shine.

Amara And cloths?

Nadia Cloths are a transmission route all by themselves. Disposable, or colour coded and laundered hot. And never carry one from a raw area to a ready to eat surface, which is exactly what a busy person does without thinking.

Amara Ratings. How are they actually scored? Everybody guesses.

Nadia Three areas. Hygienic food handling, so cooking, cooling, storage, cross contamination. Cleanliness and condition of the premises. And confidence in management.

Amara That third one sounds subjective.

Nadia It is judgement, and it is the one that most often caps a score, and it is the one people neglect entirely. It means your system, your records, your training, and whether the inspector believes it will still be happening in a fortnight.

Amara So two identical looking kitchens can score differently.

Nadia Routinely. Same surfaces, same fridges, and one has a completed diary, training records and a manager who can explain the system without looking anything up.

Amara Is there an order they inspect in?

Nadia Experienced inspectors are quite predictable. Hand wash basin first, is it accessible, is there soap and a way to dry your hands. Then the fridge temperature and whether raw is below ready to eat. Then behind and under equipment. Then the diary.

Amara And then?

Nadia Then they will ask a member of your staff a question. And how that person answers goes into the confidence in management score.

Amara That feels like a trick.

Nadia It is not, and it is the fairest thing they do. They are testing whether the system lives in people's heads or only in a folder. So brief everybody: what is the fridge temperature, and what do you do if it is wrong. If every person in that kitchen can answer those two questions, you will be fine.