The Food Safety AppThe nine management safe methods
The largest section, and the one the third rating score is built on. Where the other four sections describe how food is handled, these describe how the kitchen is run, which is what an officer is judging when they ask how you know your methods are followed.
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One of the five sections of the 31 safe methods, and the one that overlaps most with the records: four of these nine have a page of their own because the record behind them is a thing in its own right. This page is about the methods; those pages are about the forms.
What each one asks you to write down
| Safe method | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Opening and closing checks | Certain checks every time you open and close, which maintain the basic standards everything else assumes. |
| Prove it | Showing that a method works, rather than asserting that it does. |
| Extra checks | Regular checks that your methods are actually being followed. |
| Stock control | Working through the menu to plan for what you actually need. |
| Suppliers and contractors | Reputable suppliers you can trust to supply and handle food safely. |
| Training and supervision | Training and supervising staff so they handle food safely. |
| Customers | Complaints are a good indication of how well the business is being managed, and worth paying attention to. |
| Product withdrawal and recall | Responding quickly when there is a problem with a product you use or sell. |
| Managing allergen information | Customers with an allergy, intolerance or coeliac disease need the information to choose safely. |
The method that checks the other thirty
"Extra checks" is the one worth reading twice. Every other method describes what the kitchen should do; this one asks how you know it is being done when you are not watching, which is the same question the third rating score asks.
It is recorded rather than merely intended. An extra check goes into the day’s diary as a dated entry with a title, what you found and the name of whoever signed it, and it prints with the diary. The four-weekly review then asks directly whether extra checks were recorded that period, so a month with none is a question you answer rather than a gap nobody notices.
For a check you want to run to a fixed list, a checklist you build yourself gives it items and its own sign-off sheet. Improving a rating explains why this section carries more weight than its length suggests.
What the app does with them
Each sheet in the app is the FSA’s own sheet, transcribed question by question, and it prints back onto the FSA’s published form. Completing one stamps the date and the initials of whoever signed it, and those stamps fill in the completion record at the front of the pack.
Sheets are versioned. When the FSA revises a method, a sheet completed against the older wording is flagged stale and asks to be re-confirmed rather than quietly continuing to count, while a method marked not relevant to your business is left alone.
Questions
Which section matters most for my rating?
This one, in the sense that the third score is about how food safety is managed and the evidence for it is largely what this section produces. The other four sections are what the records are about.
Is "extra checks" the same as opening and closing checks?
No. Opening and closing checks are the daily basics. Extra checks are how you verify that your methods are being followed, which is a supervision job rather than a daily one.
Why do only some of the nine have pages of their own?
Four of them sit behind a record big enough to explain separately: the opening and closing checks, the prove-it checks, the staff training record and the allergen chart. Suppliers and contractors has an official FSA form too, the suppliers list, which the app fills and exports; it simply has no page here yet. Extra checks have no standalone form, but they are recorded: each one is a dated, signed entry in the diary and prints with it. Stock control, customers and product withdrawal are the three with no running record of their own.
Keep reading
The methods that keep the rest honest
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