EHO inspection checklist

1. Paperwork and your food safety plan

• Your business is registered with the authority that supervises it (for most caterers, the HSE).
• You have a written food safety management system based on HACCP, such as a completed FSAI Safe Catering pack, and it matches what you actually cook and serve today.
• New dishes, equipment or suppliers since you last reviewed the plan have been added.
• More than one person knows where the plan and the records are kept.

2. Records to have open on the day

• Deliveries: supplier, product, batch code, use-by date and temperature for chilled and frozen goods, and anything rejected with the reason.
• Fridges and freezers: actual readings (numbers, not ticks) at the times your plan sets, and what was done when one was out of range.
• Cooking, cooling and reheating: core temperatures, cooling times, and reheating once only.
• Hot holding: temperatures of food kept hot for service.
• Cleaning: what was cleaned, when and by whom.
• Training and fitness to work: who has been trained in what, and that staff know to report illness before work.
• Allergens: written allergen information for every dish, and when it was last checked.
• Pest control: visit reports from your contractor, or your own checks.

Inspectors often notice gaps, readings filled in for days at once, and out-of-range readings with nothing written about what happened. A record that shows a problem and what you did about it is a good record.

3. Temperatures

• Fridges are holding food at 0–5 °C and freezers at −18 °C or colder (FSAI guidance).
• Hot food on display is at 63 °C or above.
• There is a working, clean probe thermometer, and someone knows how to check it in iced and boiling water.
• Cooked food is cooled quickly and put in the fridge within two hours. See cooling cooked food safely.

4. Storage and cross-contamination

• Raw meat, fish and eggs are stored below and apart from ready-to-eat food.
• Food is covered, labelled with what it is and the date it was made or opened, and in date.
• Separate (or properly cleaned) boards, knives and equipment are used for raw and ready-to-eat food.
• Dry goods are off the floor, in closed containers.

5. Cleaning and the premises

• Floors, walls, ceilings and equipment are clean and in good repair.
• Cleaning and sanitising products are suitable for food areas and used as the label says, including contact time.
• Hand-wash basins have hot and cold water, soap and paper towels, and are used only for hands.
• Bins are clean and lidded, and waste is removed regularly.
• There are no signs of pests, and doors, windows and drains are proofed.

6. Staff

• Staff wash their hands at the right times, wear clean clothing and keep jewellery to a minimum.
• Each person has been trained in food hygiene in line with their work, and new starters were trained before handling food.
• Everyone knows to tell a manager before work if they have diarrhoea or vomiting, or an infected wound or skin condition.

7. Allergens

• Allergen information for food that isn’t prepacked is available in writing, before the food is served (S.I. No. 489 of 2014).
• It covers all 14 allergens and is checked whenever a recipe, ingredient or supplier changes.
• Staff know where it is and what to do when a customer asks. See the 14 allergens.

After the inspection

Keep the inspector’s report with your records. Write down each point raised, what you will do, and when it was done, and check it at your next walk-round. Under the FSAI Act 1998, serious problems can lead to an improvement order, a closure order (all or part of a premises or activity) or a prohibition order on a product. The FSAI publishes these on its website.

Keeping it easy every day

Inspection-ready is a habit: checks recorded as they happen, reviewed weekly, and easy to find. In Hygivo, staff record each check on their phone, out-of-range readings ask what was done, and Records gives a read-only inspection view for any period. How Records works.

This is general information, not advice for your business. Your food safety management system (HACCP plan) and FSAI guidance are the reference. Hygivo is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FSAI.