Templates and records · HACCP · Clause 5.2 c)
HACCP plan control chart with critical limits
A table that fits on one page and sums up the plan: for each CCP, the limit, how it is monitored, what is done if it fails and how it is verified.
In one sentence
The HACCP plan control chart summarises, for each critical control point, the hazard, the critical limit with its justification, monitoring, corrective action, verification and the associated record, and it is the document that sets out the critical limits required by Article 5(2)(c) of Regulation (EC) 852/2004.
- Where the standard requires it
- HACCP · Clause 5.2 c) Clause references cite the points of Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) 852/2004, which lists the HACCP principles; they are applied following Codex CXC 1-1969, revised in 2020.
- Type of information
- Mandatory document HACCP plan document (Article 5(2)(c) of Regulation 852/2004)
- Who fills it in
- HACCP team Approved by the person responsible for the plan; everyone who monitors knows it
- When
- When designing the plan and at every review Updated with every change of CCP, limit or method
- How long it is kept
- Current version and history A plan document, with its earlier versions retrievable.
What the standard requires
What HACCP demands and what it leaves to your judgement
The Regulation requires critical limits to be established at each CCP that separate acceptability from unacceptability. They must be measurable — temperature, time, pH, water activity, concentration — and justified by legislation, scientific literature or in-house validation.
The control chart brings together in a single document what principles 3 to 7 require for each CCP. It is not a literal requirement, but it is the usual way to present the plan and the one that makes daily monitoring and inspections easier.
Setting an operating limit tighter than the critical limit lets you act on the process before control is lost.
Structure
Fields the template should include
- CCP number and step
- Hazard controlled
- Critical limit and justification
- Operating limit, if any
- Monitoring: what, how, when and who
- Corrective action in the event of a deviation
- Verification and frequency
- Record where the evidence is kept
Example
Example: cooling CCP in a fictitious ready-meals kitchen
Company, people and figures are fictitious: the example only shows what a properly completed record looks like.
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| CCP | CCP-3 · rapid cooling of stews |
| Hazard | Germination and growth of Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus |
| Critical limit | From 60 °C to below 10 °C in no more than 2 h at the core of the product |
| Justification | Ready-meals sector guide and in-house validation with a probe on three loads |
| Operating limit | Below 10 °C within 90 min |
| Monitoring | Probe on every blast chiller load · kitchen operative |
| Corrective action | If it exceeds 2 h: hold the batch, evaluate it and, if safety cannot be guaranteed, destroy it · check the blast chiller |
| Verification | Daily record review by the supervisor · quarterly probe calibration |
At the audit
Mistakes auditors commonly flag
- Critical limits that cannot be measured: "adequate temperature", "sufficient time".
- Limits without justification.
- The chart states one frequency and the records show another.
- A corrective action that only acts on the process and forgets the product.
- The staff who monitor do not know the limit.
In Kimobox
How this record is kept in Kimobox
- 1Each CCP is configured with its critical limit, operating limit, frequency and owner.
- 2Monitoring is recorded against that limit and the system warns you when the operating limit is exceeded.
- 3A deviation from the critical limit opens the corrective action and blocks the batch.
- 4The control chart is distributed with read receipts to those who monitor.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before getting started
Where do critical limits come from?
From legislation where it exists, from sector guides and scientific literature, or from in-house validation. The limit has to be justified; it cannot be a number chosen out of habit.
What is an operating limit?
A value tighter than the critical limit that requires the process to be adjusted before the product stops being safe. Exceeding it is not a CCP deviation, but it warns that you are heading towards one.
Does the control chart replace the plan?
It summarises it. Behind it there must be the hazard analysis, the CCP determination and the justification of each limit.
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Sources
Where each figure comes from
References to the official text in force. If a standard is revised, this page is updated and the review date says so.
- Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (Article 5 and Annex II) EUR-Lex · 29 April 2004
- General Principles of Food Hygiene, CXC 1-1969 Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO) · 2020 revision