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The hazard controls an inspector looks for first certified in weeks, not months
HACCP certification proves that a food operation has identified where contamination can occur, set limits that keep it under control, and kept the records showing those limits were met. It is the quickest route to a recognised food safety certificate and often the minimum a buyer, caterer or licensing authority accepts.
You need HACCP if…
- !A licensing authority or client audit has asked to see your HACCP plan and monitoring records.
- !You run several outlets and each kitchen handles temperature and holding time differently.
- !A catering or banquet contract requires a food safety certificate within weeks, not months.
- !An inspection raised findings on temperature logs, cooling times or storage segregation.
- !You trade or repack food and the importing buyer wants hazard controls documented in writing.
- !Staff turnover is high and hygiene practice depends on whoever happens to be on shift.
A structured method for controlling food safety hazards, set out in the Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene. Seven principles applied through twelve steps, resting on a foundation of good hygiene practice.
HACCP is a Codex method, not an ISO management system standard. Certification is issued by a certification body against the Codex principles; accreditation scope differs between accreditation bodies.
Certificates commonly run three years with annual surveillance; some buyer schemes and local authorities require an annual certificate instead.
Restaurants, hotel and central kitchens, small processors, cold stores and food traders needing a recognised certificate quickly.
Where this certification is demanded
HACCP is applicable across 6 of the 25 industries SIS covers. The pages below set out the specific reason it comes up in each one.
What HACCP Actually Requires
The backbone an implementer has to build, in the order it usually gets built.
Cleaning and sanitation, pest control, potable water, personal hygiene, waste handling and maintenance have to be in place before hazard analysis means anything.
Assemble the team, describe each product and its intended use, draw the process flow, and confirm it against what actually happens on site.
List biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards at every step, judge severity and likelihood, and decide the control measure for each significant one.
Determine the steps where control is essential and set validated, measurable critical limits - a temperature, a time, a pH - not a general instruction.
Define who checks each limit, how often, with what calibrated equipment, and exactly what happens to the product when a limit is breached.
Verify the plan works through review, testing and calibration, keep monitoring and deviation records, and reassess whenever product, process or equipment changes.
How HACCP Certification Works
No black box. A defined, time-bound route from first call to certificate in hand.
Application & Proposal
Scoping depends on the menu or product range, number of outlets or lines, whether high-risk processes such as cooking, chilling and reheating are involved, and shift coverage.
1–2 daysGap Review & Readiness
The critical limit on the cooking step came off a template someone downloaded. Nobody has checked it against your product on your equipment with a calibrated probe. That is where readiness stops.
1–2 weeksHACCP Plan Review + On-Site Audit
The plan, flow diagrams and hazard analysis are reviewed first, then the audit checks the same controls in the kitchen or plant: temperature logs, cooling, storage, changeover and staff practice.
Scheduled during operationCertificate Issued
The certificate names the sites and processes covered. A client auditor verifies it with the certification body; surveillance visits then go straight to your monitoring logs.
Valid 3 years, surveilled annuallyIndustries That Need HACCP
Commonly taken alongside
Not Sure Which Certification You Need?
Three questions. The selector reads the same industry-to-standard mapping this whole site is built on, then shortlists what applies to you.
Which sector best describes your organisation?
A HACCP plan is judged at the thermometer
Certification turns on whether the critical limits were validated for your process, or copied. An auditor finds out in the first hour. So can you, this week.
Get My Free Quote →What HACCP Changes for Your Business
Certification is not a certificate on the wall. It is a working system that pays for itself.
Fast route to a certificate
The scope is narrower than a full management system, so a compliant kitchen or small plant can be audited and certified inside a few weeks.
Practice stops depending on people
Time and temperature limits are written, monitored and recorded, so control survives a shift change or a departure that would otherwise take the knowledge with it.
Inspections go better
An inspector asking how you control a hazard gets a documented critical limit and a signed log rather than a description of what usually happens.
Opens catering and event work
Hotel groups, corporate caterers and event clients frequently require a HACCP certificate before awarding food service contracts across their sites.
Accepted at import
Documented hazard control is what importing buyers and border authorities expect to see from traders and repackers handling food consignments across jurisdictions.
Foundation for ISO 22000
The hazard analysis and prerequisites carry straight into ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000 later, so the work is not repeated when a buyer raises the bar.
Knowledge Base - Downloads
Practical documents prepared by our auditors. Fill the short form once and every download on the page unlocks.
Codex HACCP in twelve steps
Each preliminary step and each principle explained with kitchen and plant examples, together with the record that step should produce.
HACCP plan and monitoring log set
Hazard analysis sheet, CCP decision record, critical limit table and daily monitoring logs sized for a single site.
Pre-audit kitchen readiness check for every outlet
Calibration, cooling records, storage segregation, allergen handling and staff practice, set out in the order an auditor actually walks a kitchen.
How to validate a critical limit properly
Why copied limits fail audit, what counts as validation evidence, and how to document the basis for each limit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers to what buyers ask before they commit to HACCP.
Is HACCP a certification, and who accredits it?
Should we certify HACCP or go straight to ISO 22000?
What counts as a validated critical limit?
How many critical control points should a kitchen have?
Do we need a certificate per outlet or one for the group?
What do auditors look at during the on-site visit?
Start HACCP certification with an accredited body
Kitchens and processing plants are where these audits happen and where our assessors have worked. Dates get arranged around service hours and production runs rather than office weeks.
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