HACCP Temperature Logs: What UK Kitchens Need to Record
It is Saturday night, the walk-in reads 9°C and nobody can say how long it has been like that. The log sheet stops at Thursday. That gap is what turns a faulty fridge into binned stock, and a routine inspection into an awkward conversation.
Temperature records are the part of a food safety management system an inspector asks for first. This guide covers what to check, the limits to work to, what to do when a reading is out of range, and how long to keep the paperwork.
What a temperature log has to show
A usable record answers four questions: what was measured, when, what the reading was, and. If it was out of range. What you did about it. A column of numbers with no corrective action is the most common gap found in kitchen paperwork. An inspector is looking for evidence that the kitchen notices problems and fixes them, not for a perfect run of compliant readings.
The daily checks and their limits
| Check | Target |
|---|---|
| Fridge Opening and closing | 5°C or below Chilled storage. UK law sets a legal maximum of 8°C; the Food Standards Agency recommends running fridges at 5°C or below so there is a safety margin. |
| Freezer Opening and closing | −18°C or below Frozen storage. Rising freezer temperatures are the earliest sign of a failing unit or a door left ajar. |
| Cooking Every batch of high-risk food | 75°C or above Core temperature at the thickest part. 75°C is the commonly used UK working figure; equivalent time and temperature combinations are also accepted. |
| Hot holding Start of service, then hourly | 63°C or above Food held below 63°C sits in the range where bacteria multiply fastest. |
| Cooling Every batch cooked to chill | 8°C or below within 90 minutes The slow drift from hot to cold is where most avoidable problems begin. |
| Delivery Every delivery, before signing | Chilled 8°C or below, frozen −15°C or below Once you sign for it, it is your problem. Reject and record anything out of range. |
Limits above reflect UK guidance. Check the current rules for your nation and business type in the Food Standards Agency's Safer Food, Better Business pack, and confirm anything specific with your local environmental health team.
In Scotland the equivalent pack is CookSafe from Food Standards Scotland, and in Northern Ireland it is Safe Catering from the FSA in Northern Ireland. The fridge, freezer, cooking, hot holding, cooling and delivery checks are the same. The one common difference is reheating: Scottish guidance expects reheated food to reach 82°C, so Chef’s Helper lets you switch its reheat target to 82°C in Settings.
Corrective actions: the column most kitchens miss
When a reading falls outside its limit, the record needs to say what happened next. Useful entries are short and specific:
- Fridge at 9°C. Door seal replaced, stock moved to walk-in, recheck at 4°C after two hours.
- Chicken at 68°C. Returned to oven, reprobed at 78°C before service.
- Delivery at 11°C. Chilled items rejected, credit note requested, supplier notified.
In Chef’s Helper, any reading outside its limit prompts you for a corrective action at the point of logging, so the explanation is captured while it is fresh rather than reconstructed weeks later.
Paper versus digital records
Paper works, and plenty of kitchens run on it. It fails in predictable ways: the clipboard goes missing, entries get filled in retrospectively in one handwriting, and pulling six months of fridge readings for an inspection means going through a folder by hand.
Digital logs fix the retrieval problem more than the recording one. Each entry carries its own timestamp and the person who took it, out-of-range readings are flagged as they happen instead of being spotted later, and a date range can be exported when someone asks for it.
How long to keep records
Keep temperature records for long enough to cover the shelf life of what you produce and any inspection cycle you are on. Many kitchens keep at least twelve months as a working rule. If you are unsure what applies to your business, your local authority will tell you.
A workable routine
- Probe fridges and freezers at opening, before the first delivery arrives.
- Check every delivery at the door and record it before signing.
- Probe core temperatures on high-risk batches as they come off the heat.
- Check hot holding at the start of service and hourly through it.
- Repeat the fridge and freezer round at closing.
- Write the corrective action the moment something is out of range.
If your team logs temperatures during opening rounds or service, you can record probe readings on a kitchen tablet or phone with the Chef’s Helper Android app. An out-of-range reading asks for a corrective action before it is saved.
Free printable temperature log
Prefer paper for now? Download our free weekly fridge and freezer temperature log (PDF). It is one A4 landscape sheet with AM and PM readings for five units and space for corrective actions. No sign-up needed.