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Audit template in the LeanSuite app

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HACCP audit checklist

A HACCP audit checks that the HACCP plan is complete and that the critical control points are controlled on the floor, not only on paper. Its 12 questions follow the plan: team and scope, product description and flow diagram checked on site, hazard analysis, critical limits and monitoring, corrective action, verification, prerequisite programmes and records. The order follows the seven HACCP principles in the Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene.

The HACCP team leader or an internal auditor from QA runs it, walking the floor with the plan in hand. What a finding looks like: a flow diagram that misses a rework loop added last year, a metal detector check sheet filled in at the end of the shift, a critical limit on the plan that differs from the one posted at the line, or a corrective action recorded with no decision on the product.

What it is for, as built: Audit the HACCP plan and how well critical control points are controlled in practice.

Use this template in LeanSuite

The full question list

The 12 questions in the audit

Every question is answered Yes, No or N/A. Each No is flagged and asks for a photo and a comment, so the finding arrives with its evidence.

Plan

  1. 1A HACCP team is named and the scope of the plan is defined
  2. 2Product descriptions and a process flow diagram exist and are checked on site
  3. 3Hazards were analysed for each step and the analysis is current

Critical control points

  1. 4Critical control points are identified and critical limits are set
  2. 5Monitoring is carried out as the plan says and recorded
  3. 6Operators know the critical limits and what to do when they are exceeded
  4. 7Monitoring equipment is calibrated

Corrective action and verification

  1. 8Deviations lead to corrective action and product control
  2. 9Verification activities (checks, tests, record reviews) are done on schedule
  3. 10The plan is reviewed at least once a year and after any change

Prerequisites and records

  1. 11Prerequisite programmes (cleaning, pest control, supplier control, training) are in place
  2. 12HACCP records are complete, signed and kept for the required time

Worked example, illustrative

A filled-in example

One section as it might be filled in on the floor, with every other section of the audit answered Yes. The place and finding are made up to show how the audit reads and scores.

Result: pass, 83.3% against a pass mark of 80

  • 12 questions, all of them count.
  • 2 answered No, so 10 of 12 are Yes: 10 ÷ 12 = 83.3%.
  • 83.3% is at or above 80, so the audit passes. The Nos still need their fix.

What happened next: QA put the shift's product on hold for review the same day. HACCP team leader retrained the line within the week.

Scored here as one point per question with N/A left out. In the app each answer carries the points set on the template, so change them after you clone it if your plant weighs some checks more.

HACCP Audit

Audit, as needed

Product or process audited
Cooked chicken line

Critical control points

  1. Critical control points are identified and critical limits are setYes
  2. Monitoring is carried out as the plan says and recordedNo
  3. Operators know the critical limits and what to do when they are exceededNo

    Comment: Metal detector check sheet filled in at shift end, not hourly as the plan says. Line operator quoted a core temperature limit different from the plan.

    Photo attached to each No

  4. Monitoring equipment is calibratedYes
Drawn from this template's own questions, not a screenshot of the app. Illustrative answers.

When to use it

  • When it is due on your audit programme, or after a change or a problem.
  • An auditor or leader answers each question from what they see, hear and read in the area.
  • Each record starts with: Product or process audited.

How it is scored

The template is built with points per answer and a pass mark of 80. In this library every audit is set to pass at 80 and every inspection at 90. Each submitted audit shows its score and pass or fail, and every No is flagged with its photo and comment.

Change the points or the pass mark after you clone it. How rules and scoring work.

Read and print

More in quality and food safety

All quality and food safety templates

FAQ

HACCP audit checklist: common questions

  1. As needed as built, which in practice means at least once a year per plan, since the plan itself must be reviewed yearly and after any change. Audit sooner after a product or process change, new equipment or a new rework loop, a customer complaint or recall, a run of deviations at a critical control point, and ahead of a certification or customer visit.

  2. The HACCP team leader or an internal auditor from QA, and not the person who runs the line being audited. They need the current plan, the flow diagram and the monitoring records for the period, and they walk the floor with them. Findings go to the HACCP team and the QA manager, who decides what happens to any product the finding touches.

  3. A fail means a hazard may not be controlled on the floor, whatever the plan says. Put the affected product on hold first, then fix the monitoring at the critical control point today. Root cause, plan update and retraining follow, each with an owner and a date agreed with the HACCP team. In this template every No is flagged and asks for a photo and a comment, and an audit that scores under its pass mark of 80 is a fail.

  4. Keep the product or process audited, date, auditor, the plan version checked, each finding with its evidence such as a photo of the posted limit or the check sheet, and the corrective action and verification that closed it. Customers and certification bodies ask for this trail, and the trend across audits shows whether the same control point keeps slipping. In LeanSuite each submitted audit is stored with its score, its pass or fail, and the photo and comment on every No.

  5. 12 questions in 4 sections: plan, critical control points, corrective action and verification, and prerequisites and records. Every question is answered Yes, No or N/A.

Use this template in LeanSuite

It is ready in the Template Marketplace inside Lean Creator as “HACCP Audit”. Clone it into your plant, change any question, then schedule it to a person, role or asset with reminders. Auditors complete it on a phone or tablet, with photo evidence where required.

Not on LeanSuite yet? On a 90-day pilot our team sets up your account and digitizes the forms and checklists you use today, this one included.

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