How long to keep food safety records
Short answer: keep each record for as long as your HACCP plan says, and make that long enough to show an inspector your checks are working. For most kitchens, at least a year is a sensible minimum.
What the law says
EU food hygiene law (Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Article 5) requires food businesses to keep documents and records that suit the nature and size of the business, to show that their HACCP-based procedures are applied. It doesn’t set one retention period for every record. The records have to be there when an authorised officer asks to see them.
Traceability records
Delivery records are also traceability records. FSAI guidance is that they must be kept at least until the food can reasonably be assumed to have been eaten. Businesses registered or approved to produce or process food of animal origin must keep them for three years. See food recalls and traceability.
A practical rule of thumb
- Daily checks (fridge and freezer temperatures, cooking, cooling, hot holding, cleaning): keep at least a year, so a full cycle of seasons is on file.
- Deliveries with batch codes and dates: at least a year, longer for long-life stock.
- Problems and corrective actions: keep them with the checks they relate to. They are the records that show you are in control.
- Staff training and fitness to work: while the person works for you, and for a period after they leave.
- Your HACCP plan: keep old versions when you update it, with the date each changed.
- Pest control reports, probe calibration and maintenance: keep them with your other records for the same period.
Write the periods you choose into your HACCP plan, and ask your environmental health officer if you are unsure about a particular record.
Keep them findable
A record that can’t be found during an inspection is almost as bad as no record. Keep paper logs in date order in one place. An app keeps every record by date, person and location, so last March’s fridge readings take seconds to find.
Hygivo keeps your team’s temperature, delivery, cooking and cleaning records on their phones and exports any period as a HACCP report. See records in Hygivo.
See the FSAI’s guidance on traceability and the FSAI Safe Catering pack. 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.
Questions
How long do I have to keep food safety records in Ireland?
For most catering records there is no single period written into law. EU hygiene law asks for records that suit the nature and size of the business, kept so they can show your HACCP procedures are working. Traceability records must be kept at least until the food can reasonably be assumed to have been eaten, and businesses approved to handle food of animal origin must keep them for three years. Set your periods in your HACCP plan and ask your environmental health officer if unsure.
How long should I keep fridge temperature records?
Long enough to show an inspector that your checks happen every day and that problems were acted on. Many kitchens keep at least a year of temperature records, so an inspector can see a full year of daily checks, including the summer.
Can I throw away paper logs when I move to an app?
Not straight away. Keep the paper records for the period your own procedure sets, and write the date you switched on the last paper sheet so anyone looking later knows where the history continues.
Do records have to be kept on paper?
No. The law asks for documents and records, not paper. What matters is that they are accurate, made at the time, show who made them, and can be shown to an authorised officer when asked.
Keep these records on your phone, not on paper.
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