What to do when a check fails

A check fails when the result is outside the limit. It is not a personal failure. What matters is what you do next.

First, stop. Do not carry on as if nothing has happened, and do not let the food move on to the next step.

Second, tell your supervisor straight away. Do not decide alone that the food is probably fine. You often cannot see or smell harmful bacteria.

Third, follow the corrective action in your procedures. Corrective action has three jobs: get the process back under control, deal with the food affected, and stop the problem happening again. If cooked chicken reads 68°C and the limit is 75°C for 30 seconds, keep cooking it and probe it again. If a chilled delivery is warmer than the limit, your procedure will usually tell you to refuse it.

Fourth, record it. Write down what you found, what you did, the time and your name.

Here is an example. Priya works in a care home kitchen. At 7am the walk-in fridge reads 11°C. Her procedure sets a limit of 8°C. She tells the cook in charge straight away. They move the food to a working fridge, mark it 'do not use', and call an engineer. The cook decides which food must be thrown away. Priya records the reading, the time and what they did. Later the manager reads the record and asks why the fault was not spotted sooner.

Some actions are never acceptable. Do not write down a better number. Do not keep testing until you get a good result and ignore the bad one. Do not quietly throw food away to hide a problem.

If food from a failed check may already have left the business, tell your manager at once. The business may need to withdraw or recall the food and tell the authorities.

Speaking up is part of your job. A good manager wants to hear about problems early, while they can still be fixed. If you see a colleague skip a check or write a false figure, tell your supervisor.