Monitoring and honest records

Monitoring means planned checks to confirm that a control is working. You might probe cooked food, read a fridge temperature, check a chilled delivery, or check that the right allergen label is on a product.

Some of these checks are at a CCP. Others check prerequisites, such as cleaning. Do them all with the same care.

A good check has four parts. Use the right equipment, and clean and disinfect a probe before you use it. Do the check at the right time. Write the result down straight away, not from memory at the end of the shift. Then sign or initial it.

When you probe food, push the probe into the centre or the thickest part. Keep it away from bone and from the side of the dish. Wait for the reading to settle. Clean and disinfect the probe again afterwards.

A probe can become inaccurate. In iced water it should read between −1°C and +1°C. In boiling water it should read between 99°C and 101°C. If it does not, stop using it and tell your supervisor.

Always write the real result, even if it is outside the limit. A record should show the date, the time, the result, who did the check, and any action taken.

Honest records protect customers. They also protect you and your employer. If someone becomes ill, the business may need to show what it did. The legal defence of due diligence means showing that all reasonable precautions were taken and all due diligence exercised. Records are a key part of that evidence, and false records destroy it.

A false record is dangerous because it hides a real problem. Nobody can fix a fault they do not know about. Never fill in a check you did not do. Never copy old figures or write what you think the number should be.

If you miss a check, do not guess. Do the check as soon as you remember, write down the real time, and tell your supervisor about the gap.