Technical reference
is the fifth principle, and good hygiene practice needs it too. It has two halves: what happens to the food and what happens to the process. Most weak systems do one and forget the other.
makes a point that is easy to miss: can or expand the amount of food affected by a deviation. So the hold is a first estimate. Keep the scope open until you know the cause.
A hold works only if food is physically apart and labelled. Memory fails at shift change, and the people who didn't see the problem are the ones most likely to use the food.
Separation of duties matters because a person reviewing their own correction tends to see what they meant to do. A second person reads what the record actually says.
Parameters
| What a corrective action covers | Restore control, isolate and evaluate food, decide , identify cause, prevent recurrence ( §13.1.4) |
|---|---|
| Held food in Australia | Kept separate and clearly identified until destroyed, returned, further processed or shown safe ( cl. 11) |
| Temperature control in Australia | 5 °C or below, or 60 °C or above, or another temperature the business can show is safe ( cl. 1). vary by country |
| 2-hour / 4-hour rule, where your plan uses it | food between 5 and 60 °C. Under 2 hours: refrigerate or use. 2 to 4 hours: use, don't refrigerate. 4 hours or more: discard (, Appendix 2) |
| Clock during a hold | Keeps counting from when the food left its , unless the food is kept within limit |
| Who closes it | Someone other than the person who and acted ( §19.11.2) |
Records that prove it
- Deviation: what, where, when, reading, who found it
- Hold: what, how much, why, who, and the label applied
- Disposition: decision, reason, quantity, who decided
- Discard entry that agrees with the corrective action
- Cause and process action, with proof it was done
- Review and closure by a second person
- Periodic trend review of corrective actions
- Alerts sent: recipients, time, outcome and content, and changes to who gets them
The 2-hour / 4-hour rule
Total time out of temperature control. Check whether your food law or plan uses this rule, and when its clock starts.
Maximum cumulative exposure
FDA guidance written for fish and fishery products, shown here as a worked example of how combine. * See the source's footnotes. Source: , Table A-2.
CCP or prerequisite?
That depends on the for your process. The number, if it has one, belongs to your plan.