Sample HACCP plan templates.

01Pick your vertical

Twelve real HACCP templates, one per food category.

The mistake I made building my first HACCP plan in 2022 was downloading a generic 21 CFR §117 template and trying to fit our mushroom operation into it. The Critical Control Points (CCPs) in the template were for canning. We weren't canning. I'd spent two days filling in a plan that had nothing to do with my hazards before a more experienced operator looked at it and laughed. The whole thing started over.

A real HACCP plan is vertical-specific. Cooking poultry to 165°F is a CCP for a USDA-inspected meat plant. It's not a CCP for a bakery. A bakery's bake step IS a CCP — but only because the bake is a kill step for Salmonella in flour, not because it cooks anything to a temperature. Same word, completely different math. Use the wrong template and you'll write a plan that fails its first inspection.

Pick the vertical that actually describes your product:

1. 01

   Restaurant or food service

   For on-site cooking and service. Includes special-process variants (sous vide, ROP, smoking for preservation, on-premises juicing) per §3-502.11.

   FDA Food Code

2. 02

   Bakery (retail or wholesale)

   Bake step as kill step for Salmonella in flour. Allergen control as CCP (six of the Big 9 allergens are routinely in a bakery). Metal detection optional for wholesale.

   21 CFR Part 117

3. 03

   Dairy processor

   Pasteurization as primary CCP. Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) adds state-specific requirements on top of FSMA.

   21 CFR Part 117 + PMO

4. 04

   Meat or poultry processor

   USDA-FSIS jurisdiction. Cooking time/temperatures per FSIS-GD-2021-0014. Lethality and stabilization (cooling) as primary CCPs.

   9 CFR Part 417 + FSIS Appendix A

5. 05

   Seafood processor

   Mandatory HACCP since 1997. Pathogen reduction, histamine control, allergen control, parasite control. Records 1 year refrigerated / 2 years frozen.

   21 CFR Part 123

6. 06

   Juice processor

   Mandatory HACCP since 2002. Validated 5-log pathogen reduction step is the primary CCP.

   21 CFR Part 120

7. 07

   Beverage manufacturer (non-juice)

   Soft drinks, water, sports drinks, non-juice formulations. Lower pH and water activity often make hazards more manageable.

   21 CFR Part 117

8. 08

   Acidified or fermented foods

   pH ≤4.6 (kombucha ≤4.2). Requires a Process Authority review before scheduling. Low-Acid Canned Foods (LACF) under 21 CFR Part 113 if pH > 4.6.

   21 CFR Part 114

9. 09

   Confectionery (chocolate, candy)

   Bake/conching step. Allergen control especially for milk and nuts. Foreign material as primary physical hazard.

   21 CFR Part 117

10. 10

    Pet food / animal food

    Preventive Controls for Animal Food. Salmonella as primary biological hazard. Pellet processing as primary CCP for kibble.

    21 CFR Part 507

11. 11

    Smoked fish and Reduced-Oxygen Packaging (ROP)

    Water-phase salt ≥3.5%, OR 3% salt plus 100-200 ppm sodium nitrite. Cold storage ≤38°F. Variance required for retail ROP.

    21 CFR Part 123 + FDA Food Code §3-502.12

12. 12

    Jerky and dehydrated meat

    Lethality (165°F internal) plus humidity control during drying to prevent case-hardening. Water activity ≤0.85 for shelf stability.

    9 CFR Part 417 + FSIS-GD-2014-0008

13. 13

    Specialty: cottage and small-batch

    Cottage operations exempt under state law (limits vary $50K–$150K). Scaling up triggers FDA registration. Mushroom-specific notes from my own Brantford facility on the specialty card.

    State cottage food law + 21 CFR Part 117

02Pick your regulation

If you're not sure which template to pick.

The vertical decides the template. The regulation decides how strictly it has to be written.

Beyond the federal rules, three buyer-driven schemes might also require HACCP:

1. 01

   GFSI-recognized schemes

   SQF Edition 9, BRCGS Issue 9, FSSC 22000 V6. Required by most large retailers (Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Costco) and foodservice distributors (Sysco, US Foods) above certain supplier-size thresholds.

2. 02

   CFIA Preventive Control Plan (Canada)

   SFCR §86 requires every licence holder to maintain a written PCP. Functionally a HACCP plan with Canadian-specific sections. Every template here is suitable as the basis of a PCP.

3. 03

   State cottage food law

   Cottage operators are usually exempt from formal HACCP but still subject to a state-level baseline food safety policy. The Specialty template includes a cottage-to-licensed scaling guide.

03What's inside

The 10 sections every HACCP template contains.

Every template here follows the same 10-section structure. The reason is that auditors read them in this order — varying the structure makes the auditor's job harder, which usually makes the audit harder. Stick with the 10 sections in this order:

1. 01

   Title page and version control

   Plan name, product family covered, version number, date, person responsible. Signed and dated by the most senior person at the facility.

2. 02

   Product description

   Ingredients, packaging, shelf life, intended use, intended consumer (general population, infants, immune-compromised), distribution channel.

3. 03

   Process flow diagram

   Every step from receiving raw material to shipping finished product. Drawn first, then verified on the floor.

4. 04

   Hazard analysis

   At each step, list biological, chemical (including allergens), and physical hazards. Rate likelihood and severity. Decide whether each one is significant.

5. 05

   CCP determination

   Run each significant hazard through the 2023 Codex CCP decision tree (not the 1997 version still in many free templates). Document which steps you identified as Critical Control Points and why.

6. 06

   HACCP plan summary table

   The big rectangular table: CCP, hazard, critical limit, monitoring procedure, corrective action, verification, records. One row per CCP.

7. 07

   Supporting programs (prerequisites)

   Allergen control, sanitation (your SSOPs and cleaning logs), pest control, water and ice testing, supplier verification, employee training, recall plan.

8. 08

   Validation

   Scientific evidence that your critical limits actually control the hazard. Cited references (FSIS Appendix A for cooking, published challenge studies for cold storage, USDA Pathogen Modeling Program output, etc.).

9. 09

   Verification and reassessment

   Internal audit schedule, calibration records, environmental monitoring, mock recalls. Annual full plan reassessment.

10. 10

    Recordkeeping

    Where each record is kept, how long it's retained (1 yr / 2 yr / 3 yr depending on regulation), who has access. The FDA's 24-hour record-production rule under FSMA 117.305 applies to FSMA records.

04Special processes

Restaurant special-process plans.

If you operate a restaurant doing one of these specialized processes, your local health department will require a written HACCP plan and grant a variance under FDA Food Code §3-502.11 before you can run the process:

1. 01

   Sous vide cooking

   Time and temperature combinations from FDA Food Code Annex 3: 130°F for 121 minutes, 140°F for 12 minutes, 145°F for 3 minutes (whole-muscle), or 165°F instant (poultry).

2. 02

   Reduced-Oxygen Packaging (ROP)

   Vacuum sealing or modified-atmosphere packaging for distribution. §3-502.12.

3. 03

   Smoking for preservation (not just for flavor)

   Hot smoking (≥145°F internal) or cold smoking with cure. Different from smoking for flavor only.

4. 04

   Curing or fermenting

   House-cured charcuterie, lacto-fermented vegetables, kombucha. pH targets and water activity targets per the specific product.

5. 05

   Sprouting

   Higher-risk biological hazards. FDA Sprout Safety Alliance training plus written HACCP variance required.

6. 06

   On-premises juicing of unpasteurized juice

   Requires HACCP under 21 CFR Part 120 even at small scale if sold to the public.

05For Canadian operators

How these templates work under SFCR.

Every template in this hub is suitable as the basis of a Canadian Preventive Control Plan (PCP). SFCR §86 requires every licence holder to maintain one in writing. The PCP follows the same 10-section structure as a US HACCP plan, with Canadian-specific sections added.

The main differences when using these templates under SFCR:

1. 01

   Bilingual labels

   All consumer-facing label content (allergen statements, nutrition facts, country of origin) must be in both English and French.

2. 02

   Priority allergen list

   Canada's list includes mustard and added sulphites at >10 ppm in addition to the US Big 9. Gluten sources include barley and rye where the US list focuses on wheat.

3. 03

   Records retention

   SFCR §87 requires 2 years for most records. Some records (recall, complaint files) longer.

4. 04

   Inspector relationship

   CFIA inspectors usually arrive announced (24-72 hours notice) for routine inspections. FDA does not announce. The PCP needs to be retrievable on short notice either way.

06How to use

Seven steps to turn a template into your actual plan.

A downloaded template is a starting point. The plan that passes an audit is one that's been customized for your specific facility, your specific products, and your specific hazards. The work to get from template to real plan:

1. 01

   Download the template that matches your vertical

   From this page or from the silo hub at /templates.

2. 02

   Fill in the title page, version, and facility-specific info

   Plan name. Product family. Your facility address. Person responsible. Date.

3. 03

   Draw your actual process flow on grid paper

   Don't trust the template's process flow. Walk your floor, draw what's actually there. Fix the template to match.

4. 04

   Redo the hazard analysis for your products

   The hazards listed in the template are typical for the vertical. Yours may differ. A jerky operation using a single supplier of grass-fed beef has different supplier-verification hazards than one buying commodity beef.

5. 05

   Validate your critical limits with scientific data

   For most templates this is a literature reference. For acidified, LACF, or smoked-fish, you need a written letter from a Process Authority (typically a food science PhD at a state extension service).

6. 06

   Train your team on the monitoring and corrective actions

   Sign and date a training log for every employee who'll be following the plan. Most failed audits show inadequate training records, not inadequate plans.

7. 07

   Reassess annually (and after any process change)

   Calendar a yearly reassessment. Also reassess whenever you add a product, change a supplier, modify equipment, or change packaging. The reassessment is itself a verification record.

07What's next

After you've finished the template.

The HACCP plan is one document of many in a complete food-safety program. Once it's in place, the next adjacent documents:

1. 01

   Sanitation logs

   The day-to-day proof that your cleaning preventive controls are running. See /templates/cleaning-log.

2. 02

   Temperature logs

   Cold-holding, hot-holding, cooking, cooling, reheating. See /templates/temperature-log.

3. 03

   Allergen control program

   Recipe-to-allergen mapping, scheduled run order, validation swabbing.

4. 04

   Recall plan

   Separate document required by 21 CFR §117.139 for any facility identifying preventive controls. Annual mock recall recommended.

5. 05

   Supplier verification program

   Approved-supplier list, certificate of analysis review, supplier audit schedule.

6. 06

   Training log

   Every employee, every applicable procedure, signed and dated.

A full first-time HACCP build with all adjacent documents runs 80 to 200 hours of work for a single-product cottage operation. Multi-product manufacturers can hit 500+ hours. The templates here cut that by ~60% — most of the writing is done; what's left is your facility-specific customization.

Footnotes

1.21 CFR Part 117 (Preventive Controls for Human Food) — ecfr.gov

2.21 CFR Part 123 (Seafood HACCP) — ecfr.gov

3.9 CFR Part 417 (USDA-FSIS HACCP) — ecfr.gov

4.USDA-FSIS Revised Appendix A (Cooking) — FSIS-GD-2021-0014 — fsis.usda.gov

5.Codex Alimentarius CXC 1-1969, Rev. 2023 (General Principles of Food Hygiene) — fao.org

Andrew Langevin·CFIA-licensed facility, Brantford ON· Published 2026-06-03· 13 min read· Wikidata Q139112497