A HACCP plan looks great on paper. An auditor reads your records.
A HACCP plan says what to record. Compliance is records an auditor can trust. The gap, why spreadsheets fall short, and what FDA rules require
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What to Do in the First 24 Hours of a Food Recall
A recall doesn't give you days to figure out your exposure. It gives you hours. Here's exactly what the first 24 hours look like, and why your batch records decide what you can save and what you have to destroy.
Every CCP log you've signed assumes the thermometer was right. Where's the record that says so?
A CCP log is a claim about a reading. The calibration record is what makes the reading worth anything. 21 CFR 117.165(a)(1) requires calibration or accuracy checks on process monitoring instruments, 117.165(b)(1) requires the method and frequency in writing, and 117.190 requires the record. What a calibration log that survives a review looks like, sized for a two-person shift, and why a drifted probe with no record puts every batch since install in play.
Sesame joined the major allergen list three years ago. Your ingredient specs might not have.
Sesame joined the major allergen list on January 1, 2023, but recipes drift faster than labels. How a sesame source ends up on your bill of materials and off your ingredient statement, what the law requires, and the 15-minute check that catches it.
A supplier's recall doesn't stay the supplier's problem. It becomes yours.
A supplier's recalled ingredient becomes your recall, on your clock, with your name on the label. Here is how to trace which finished batches used a recalled lot, and who received them, before you are forced to pull everything.
Every other record you keep is attached to a batch. This one isn't.
21 CFR 117.4(d) requires records documenting that everyone who handles your food was trained in food hygiene and food safety. Being a qualified facility exempts you from Subparts C and G, and nothing else, so this one still applies. Why it is the record small producers are most likely to be missing, what it has to contain under 117.305 and 117.315, and how to close the gap in an afternoon.
A trace request starts with the code on the jar. Everything after that depends on what you put in it.
Most small producers land on a lot code by accident. FDA requires the code be unique within your records and says nothing about its format, which puts the weight on the record it points to. How to design one that survives a trace request.
5 Signs Your Batch Records Won't Survive an Audit
Batch records are "audit-ready" only if you can trace any ingredient lot to every finished product in seconds, the records are complete in one place, and they were captured as work happened — not reconstructed later.