Food safety management systems for businesses
Creating a food safety management system
This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
The type of food safety management system you need depends on:
- the size of your business
- its risk level and complexity
Examples
A café prepares sandwiches, salads and hot drinks to sell the same day. They need to identify key food safety risks, keep chilled food at safe temperatures and provide allergen information for customers.
A factory produces chilled ready meals containing cooked meat and distributes them nationwide. They need a fully documented system with supplier assurance, environmental monitoring, product testing and traceability controls.
How to create a food safety management system
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Contact your local food safety team. They’ll assess the size and nature of your business and advise you on the type of system you need.
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Build your system using guidance and templates. You can also hire an independent food safety consultant or get help from your industry association, if you’re a member of one.
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Check, review and update your system regularly, and whenever you change your food processes or suppliers.
Guidance and templates to build your system
Food safety management toolkits for smaller businesses
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) toolkits are designed for small catering businesses such as restaurants, cafés and takeaways.
If your business is in Northern Ireland, use the Safe Catering guidance instead.
The SFBB toolkits include procedures for managing cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking. They can be adapted to suit the size and nature of your business.
Sector-specific SFBB information is also available for:
- retailers
- Indian takeaways
- Chinese takeaways
- childminders
- care homes
Document templates for food safety procedures
You can use FSA’s food safety document templates to manage most food safety practices, such as:
- cleaning
- maintenance
- pest control
- chemical records
- staff training
- staff hygiene
- staff health and sickness
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans
An HACCP plan is a more detailed part of food safety management that focuses on identifying and controlling food safety risks. It includes formal hazard analysis, critical control points, monitoring procedures and detailed records.
Your local food safety team might advise that you need an HACCP plan if your business is larger or higher-risk.
You can make an HACCP plan:
- online, through the MyHACCP service
- using FSA’s HACCP plan template