TL;DR: UK food businesses must follow the Food Safety Act 1990 and Regulation (EC) 852/2004, run a HACCP-based food safety management system, control the 14 named allergens, keep temperature and cleaning records, and be ready to show their records to an Environmental Health Officer (EHO). This checklist covers everything to look at before inspection day.
Who this checklist is for
If you run a cafe, restaurant, pub kitchen, takeaway, sandwich bar, mobile catering unit, food truck, school kitchen, care-home kitchen, dark kitchen, butcher, fishmonger, baker, food retailer, or any other food business in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, the duties below apply to you. (Scotland has separate but very similar rules under the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006.)
The legal framework in plain English
- Food Safety Act 1990 — the parent law making it an offence to sell food that is unsafe, falsely described, or not of the nature/substance/quality demanded.
- Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 (and equivalents in Wales/NI) — implements the EU food hygiene rules into UK law.
- Regulation (EC) 852/2004 — requires every food business to put in place a HACCP-based food safety management system.
- Food Information Regulations 2014 — covers allergen labelling and the 14 named allergens.
- Natasha's Law (PPDS) — full ingredient and allergen labelling for foods that are pre-packed for direct sale.
The day-to-day regulator is the local authority Environmental Health team, supported by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The compliance checklist
1. Registration
Register with your local authority at least 28 days before opening. Registration is free, but failing to register is an offence.
2. Food Safety Management System (HACCP)
- A written system based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).
- For most small businesses, the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack is the simplest way to do this.
- Caterers, manufacturers and complex operations need a fuller HACCP plan with identified Critical Control Points (CCPs), critical limits, monitoring and corrective actions.
Our UK HACCP software walks you through every CCP and produces a printable plan organised for inspection review.
3. Allergens (the 14 named)
You must be able to tell a customer the allergen content of any dish on request. The 14 allergens are: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre), lupin, and molluscs.
Tools that help: an up-to-date allergen matrix for every dish, supplier specifications kept on file, written process for handling allergen requests, and PPDS labels for any foods packed on-site for direct sale. If you'd rather generate the matrix from your menu in one go, the free food hygiene risk assessment generator covers allergens alongside the rest of the FSA's expected controls.
4. Temperature control
- Cold storage at 8°C or below (5°C is best practice). Freezers at -18°C or below.
- Hot holding at 63°C or above.
- Cooked food at the core temperature recommended by your method (commonly 75°C for 30 seconds, or equivalent time/temp combination).
- Keep daily fridge/freezer temperature logs and probe-calibration records.
5. Personal hygiene
- Clean uniforms, hair tied back, no jewellery.
- Wash hands on entry, after breaks, after handling raw food, after the toilet.
- Anyone with vomiting or diarrhoea must stay away from food handling for at least 48 hours after symptoms stop.
6. Cleaning
- Documented cleaning schedule covering surfaces, equipment, floors, drains, fridges, ovens, extractor canopies and storage areas.
- Use of food-safe sanitisers to BS EN 1276 / 13697 — keep the data sheets.
- Cleaning chemicals stored separately from food.
7. Pest control
Either an in-house programme with monitoring records, or a contract with a pest control company. Either way, keep the visit reports — your EHO will look for them.
8. Traceability
Records of supplier deliveries, batch numbers and use-by dates so you can trace any product one step back and one step forward. Reject and record any deliveries that fail your checks (visible damage, wrong temperature, missing labels). A digital food hygiene & HACCP tool makes this much faster than paper, and links your traceability log directly into your food hygiene software dashboard.
9. Staff training
- Every food handler must be "supervised, trained or instructed in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity".
- Most front-line food handlers should have at least Level 2 Food Safety; supervisors Level 3.
- Allergen awareness training for everyone who handles or serves food. Keep certificates on file.
10. Records you'll be asked for at inspection
- Food safety management system (SFBB or HACCP).
- Daily diary / opening & closing checks.
- Temperature logs.
- Probe calibration records.
- Cleaning schedule and completed records.
- Allergen matrix and PPDS labels.
- Supplier delivery records.
- Pest control records.
- Staff training certificates.
- Accident and complaint logs.
What to expect from your Food Hygiene Rating
Your local authority awards a rating from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good) under the FSA's Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. The score is based on three areas: hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of facilities, and management of food safety. Scoring well in the third area is largely about the quality of your records — which is why digitising them is one of the highest-leverage things you can do.
Ratings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are displayed publicly on the FSA website and increasingly required by delivery aggregators, event organisers and corporate clients. A drop from 5 to 3 isn't just a paperwork issue — it can directly affect bookings, listings and trade, which is why a clean, well-organised system pays for itself many times over.
Common reasons UK food businesses lose points
- HACCP/SFBB pack out of date or missing sections.
- No probe calibration records.
- Allergen matrix incomplete or out of date after a recipe change.
- Hand-wash basin used for food prep or blocked.
- Cleaning records signed in advance for the whole week.
- Raw and ready-to-eat food stored or prepared together.
- No PPDS labels on items pre-packed for direct sale.
What an EHO inspection actually looks like
Most routine EHO visits are unannounced. The officer will introduce themselves, ask for the person in charge, and walk through the premises in roughly the same order: deliveries area, dry storage, fridges and freezers, prep area, cook line, service, wash-up, staff facilities, and finally back-of-house records. Expect them to:
- Use a probe thermometer in fridges, freezers and any hot-held food.
- Look in less-visited corners — under shelving, behind fridges, the top of canopies, drains.
- Ask staff (not just the manager) what they would do in a given allergen scenario.
- Cross-check temperature and cleaning logs against what they can see.
- Look for evidence of staff training, especially anyone hired in the last 6 months.
The closing meeting is where the rating is shaped. If issues are minor, you'll usually get verbal advice or a follow-up letter. More serious issues can lead to an Improvement Notice with a deadline, a Hygiene Improvement Notice, a Voluntary Closure, or, in the worst cases, a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice that closes the premises immediately. Cooperation, organised paperwork and a clear plan to address any issues all help significantly.
Get your records ready in one place
If you'd rather have all of this in one organised digital system, register interest in Assessment First and we’ll confirm current availability for the food-safety workflow.