The HACCP file for a hotel kitchen: which forms, who fills them in, how long they stay

A HACCP file is the written procedure a kitchen follows plus the records proving it was followed. In Türkiye the Food Hygiene Regulation (Resmî Gazete 17 December 2011, No. 28145) (opens in a new tab) requires procedures based on the seven HACCP principles and records suited to the business's size, but prescribes no form.

A hotel kitchen's food safety file is a set of records, each tied to a step in the kitchen's work: what was received, what was cooked, what was cooled, what was cleaned. Each record has an owner, a shift and a retention period. The sections below define those records, say who fills in each one, and explain how long each stays on file.

What goes into a hotel kitchen's HACCP file?#

Three parts: the plan, the prerequisite programs, and the records. The plan says what could go wrong and where you control it, the prerequisites keep the basic hygiene conditions in place, and the records show both were actually done.

The plan#

The plan is the hazard analysis for each process step: the critical control points you identified, the limits you set at each one, how you monitor them, what you do when a limit is missed, how you verify the whole thing works, and the records you keep. The regulation lists these as the seven HACCP principles (Article 22), and we explain them in more detail in the seven HACCP principles and what is actually required. The plan is written for one kitchen, not for hotels in general: two hotels with the same menu but different equipment, delivery patterns and staffing have different control points.

The prerequisites#

The prerequisites are the everyday hygiene conditions the plan sits on: cleaning, pest control, personal hygiene, staff training, supplier approval and cold-chain handling. The regulation expects HACCP procedures to be applied together with good hygiene practice, not instead of it. The file also assumes the establishment is registered or approved under the Regulation on Registration and Approval Procedures of Food Businesses (Article 23); keep that document in the same folder.

The records#

The records are the completed forms, calibration checks, training confirmations, pest provider reports, supplier documents and the corrective action log. Responsibility sits with the operator first: the regulation's general principles place the duty for food safety on the operator at every stage under its control, not on the consultant who wrote the plan.

Which forms does a hotel kitchen actually need?#

One form per control point, and no more. A working hotel kitchen usually needs a small set, grouped by process step, and every one of them should map to a line in your plan. These HACCP forms for a hotel kitchen are examples of good practice, not statutory documents: the regulation requires records suited to the nature and size of the business and does not prescribe their layout.

Receiving and storage#

The receiving record captures the supplier, the product, the delivery temperature taken at the vehicle, the condition of the packaging, the accept or reject decision, and the receiver's signature. A rejection is a record too, and a valuable one. The storage log holds fridge and freezer temperatures by unit, once per shift at a fixed time, with the reading and the initials; a calibration check for the thermometers belongs beside it, otherwise the numbers prove nothing.

Cooking, holding and cooling#

The cooking record holds the core temperature of each batch at the point your plan names, and the hot holding check for food waiting to be served. The cooling record holds the start and end of cooling for cooked food kept for a later service, with the reading and the person responsible. If your kitchen receives goods in a formal flow, the receiving side of this group is covered in a receiving procedure from order to storeroom.

Service, cleaning and people#

The buffet record holds the time each item was placed, the holding check during service, and the time it was withdrawn. A long all-inclusive service needs a form built for its length, not a single line at opening. Cleaning gets a schedule with initials per area per day; pests get the provider's report filed with your own sighting log; and a food handler who reports vomiting, diarrhoea or an infected wound gets a return-to-work note.

Who fills in each form, and on which shift?#

The person who performs the check fills in the form, at the moment of the check, and a named section head verifies it later. Never the person closing the shift from memory.

Checks made at the delivery door#

Receiving is signed by whoever stands at the delivery, usually the storekeeper or the kitchen receiver, not by the chef who ordered. That person is the only one who saw the vehicle and the packaging.

Checks made during service#

Fridge and freezer readings are taken by the section chef at the start of each shift, before service, when a fault can still be fixed. Cooking and cooling records belong to the cook who did the cooking, because only that person knows which batch it was. Buffet records belong to the buffet supervisor on duty, who is physically at the line during service. Cleaning is initialled by the person who cleaned that area.

Who verifies, and when#

Verification is a separate signature and a separate day: the section head reviews the week, and the quality manager reviews the month. Two signatures on the same line at the same time is not verification. Staff illness goes to the executive chef or the HR contact, whichever your plan names.

How short should a form be?#

Short enough that the person doing the check can complete it in under a minute without leaving the spot where the check happens. If it takes longer, it will be filled in later, and a form filled in later is not evidence.

Design for the normal case: one tick for a reading inside the limit, and a box for the reading itself only when it is outside. The exception is what you need to read later. Leave no field that can be signed in advance; a column of identical initials down a page is the first pattern an auditor recognises. Print the form for the shift, not for the month, because a monthly sheet invites a monthly sitting.

Put the form where the check happens: at the delivery door, on the fridge, at the buffet line. A binder in the office is a filing system, not a control. Keep the limit printed on the form, so the person checking does not have to remember it; the limit comes from your plan, from the manufacturer's instruction for the equipment, or from your own hazard analysis, and the regulation does not fix numbers for you. Record the thermometer identity or its calibration date on the sheet. A temperature with no traceable instrument behind it is an opinion.

What do you write when a check fails?#

Five things: what you found, what you did with the food, who decided, when, and what you checked afterwards. A corrective action that says only "monitored" is not a corrective action.

What was found is the reading, the unit or batch, and how far outside the limit it was. What happened to the food must name the outcome, not the intention: rejected at the door, moved to a colder unit, reheated to the limit in your plan, held for verification, or discarded. Who decided means a named person with the authority to discard stock; if nobody in the building has that authority on the night shift, the plan has a gap. When means the time of the finding and the time of the decision, because the gap between them is what an auditor reads. What was checked afterwards covers the unit repaired, the probe recalibrated, the supplier warned, the batch traced to the buffet line and withdrawn.

The pattern matters more than the single event. Three identical deviations in a month mean the limit, the equipment or the form is wrong, and the plan needs a review rather than another corrective line. Over-production is a corrective action waiting to happen: the more food held for a long service, the more often a holding limit is missed, which is one reason to plan buffet quantities from covers.

How long do records stay, and what does an inspector open first?#

The regulation asks for records kept for an appropriate period and does not fix a number, so you set your own retention rule in writing and follow it. An inspector or a tour operator auditor opens the corrective action log first, then the current temperature records.

Write the retention rule into the plan: which record, how long, where it is stored, who may destroy it. A rule you can show is stronger than a number you cannot defend. Align the periods with your other duties, because tax, personal data and employment rules may require the same paper for longer; agree one schedule with your accountant and your legal adviser rather than three. Keep the documents that describe the procedure up to date, and review the procedure when the product, the processing method or any production step changes (Article 22). The review date on the plan is a record in itself.

Staff responsible for applying HACCP must receive adequate training in its principles, and food handlers must be instructed or trained in the hygiene matters their work requires (Article 21). Keep those confirmations with the file; we cover who needs which certificate in hygiene training certificates and who the regulation covers. What gets opened first is the corrective action log, the temperature records your retention rule covers, the training confirmations, the pest provider reports, then the plan and its review date. What gets opened last, and matters most, is whether the person who signed a form was on shift that day. Keep the rota with the file for the same period.

What to do next#

Take one form from your file, the one most often signed at the end of a shift, and stand with the person who uses it for a single service. If the form cannot be completed where the check happens, redesign that form this week. Then repeat the test with the corrective action log, because that is the page an auditor will read first.