Food hygiene inspection: what inspectors check
Who inspects, which records you are asked for, and what can follow a visit - from a reminder of the rules to an order to close all or part of the premises.
Who inspects, and when
Official controls are carried out by the competent authority designated in your country - in most of Europe, the local authority service responsible for food safety or environmental health, coordinated at national level. The inspector usually arrives without an appointment, generally while you are trading, and checks two things in parallel: the actual state of the premises and of working practice, and whether your records are consistent with what is in front of them.
That parallel is what counts. An immaculate folder in a chaotic kitchen does not help, and a faultless kitchen with no written trace proves nothing. The two answer each other.
The records you must be able to produce
Nothing exotic: these are the documents your own food safety management system already provides for. The difficulty is not having them, it is having them up to date and finding them fast.
Your HACCP-based food safety management system
The reference document: good hygiene practice, the HACCP plan, traceability. It is what you are asked for first, and it is what your records are compared against.
Food safety plan templateTemperature records
Enclosure by enclosure, with the limits you set and what was done when they were exceeded. A run of suspiciously regular values invites more scrutiny than a properly documented incident.
Temperature log sheetTraceability records
Goods received and products taken out of their packaging: enough to tie a product to its batch and back to its supplier. Food law requires you to be able to name that supplier, so keep the labels and the delivery notes.
Traceability registerThe cleaning schedule and its records
The plan says what is meant to happen; the dated, signed record shows that it did. Attach the data sheets for the products used.
Cleaning scheduleFood hygiene training records
Proof that the people who handle food have been instructed or trained in food hygiene, as the hygiene rules require, together with any health checks imposed by your national rules.
Maintenance and pest control records
Contracts and job sheets: refrigeration, extraction, pest control. They show that control does not rest on goodwill alone.
What an inspection can lead to
Not every country publishes a score. What is shared across the EU is the ladder of consequences: the more serious the finding, the more binding the measure. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, results are also published as a food hygiene rating from 0 to 5, and displaying the sticker is compulsory in Wales and Northern Ireland.
No or minor non-compliance
Nothing found, or only minor points. The findings are recorded and generally lead to advice rather than to any further measure.
Non-compliance to be corrected
Shortcomings that do not put the consumer at risk. The authority sets out what has to be put right, generally with a deadline, and reminds you of the rules that apply.
Serious or repeated non-compliance
A formal written requirement to carry out corrective action within a set deadline, followed by a check visit to verify that it was done.
Non-compliance that puts health at risk
Non-compliance liable to endanger consumer health. The authority can restrict or stop the activity concerned, up to closing all or part of the premises.
This page describes the general framework and does not replace advice suited to your own business or to the rules of your country. What follows an inspection is for the authority to decide in the light of its findings.
On the day of the inspection
The moment that goes badly is rarely the one where something is genuinely out of range: it is the one where nobody can find the folder, where last month is missing, or where the sheet was visibly filled in at one sitting. An excursion that is documented, with the corrective action that followed, can be defended. An absence of any trace cannot.
That is what KelvinTrack "Inspection mode" is for: a read-only link, valid for 24 hours and revocable at any time, that you hand to the inspector. It shows the establishment and the person responsible for it, the state of every enclosure with its thresholds and sensor accuracy, and the register of excursions over the last 90 days with their acknowledgements - with no account to create, and nothing for you to go looking for.
See Inspection modeSources
- Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 - hygiene of foodstuffs: obligation to put in place procedures based on HACCP principles.
- Regulation (EU) 2017/625 - official controls: how they are performed and the measures available when non-compliance is established.
- Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 - general food law: traceability of food and identification of suppliers.
- Food Standards Agency - England, Wales and Northern Ireland: guidance for food businesses and the food hygiene rating scheme.
Frequently asked questions
The competent authority designated in your country. In most of Europe the visit itself is made by the local authority service responsible for food safety or environmental health, with a national agency coordinating. The inspector normally arrives without an appointment, usually while you are trading.
As a rule, no. Official controls are performed without prior notice precisely so that the inspector sees everyday practice rather than a performance. It also means an organisation that only holds together on the day of a planned visit protects nothing - the records have to be current all the time.
That depends on the country. Some publish them: in England, Wales and Northern Ireland the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme shows a rating from 0 to 5 for each business, and displaying the sticker is compulsory in Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland runs a separate scheme). Check what your own national rules provide before assuming a result stays private.
It depends on how serious it is. Minor points are recorded and lead to advice. More serious shortcomings lead to a formal requirement to correct them within a set deadline, followed by a check visit. Where the non-compliance is liable to endanger consumer health, the authority can restrict or stop the activity, up to closing all or part of the premises.
With a consistent, timestamped history covering the period asked for, together with the corrective action taken whenever a limit was exceeded. A handwritten log does the job if it is kept rigorously; an automatic recorder does it without depending on anyone remembering, and lets you show the history immediately instead of hunting for a folder.
An inspection is prepared every day, not the night before
KelvinTrack measures your cold enclosures continuously, alerts you before stock is lost, and keeps the timestamped history you will not have to reconstruct on the day an inspector walks in.
See how it worksSee also
The other documents in the food-safety file, free to download or generate.
- Temperature log sheetGenerate a blank sheet matched to your cold enclosures and their limits, ready to post in the kitchen.Open
- Food safety plan templateThe full structure of a food safety management system - hygiene practices, HACCP plan, traceability - with your enclosures pre-filled and the questions each section must answer.Open
- Food traceability registerGoods received or opened products: a blank book ready to fill in, with the columns an inspection expects (lot, use-by, temperature on arrival).Open
- Cleaning and disinfection planThe area-by-area plan to fill in, plus the daily record that proves it is applied.Open
- Storage temperaturesRegulatory storage temperatures by food category: chilled, frozen, hot holding and healthcare products.Open