HACCP flow charts for restaurant processes

What a HACCP flow chart is, and what the Food Code asks for

A HACCP flow chart, also called a flow diagram, is a picture of your process: every step a food goes through, in order, from the back door to the plate. It is the map the rest of the plan hangs on. The hazard analysis walks it step by step, and the critical control points are marked on it.

For a restaurant that needs a HACCP plan, the chart is not optional. Section 8-201.14 lists what a plan must contain, and paragraph (C) is the flow chart:

FDA Food Code 2022, 8-201.14(C)

A flow diagram or chart for each specific FOOD or category type that identifies:

It must identify (1) each step in the process and (2) the steps that are critical control points. The Food Code's preface explains why FDA is strict about this for retail plans:

FDA Food Code 2022, Preface, section 6

the HACCP plans requested by the Food Code must include flow diagrams, product formulations, training plans, and a corrective action plan.

Your plan reviewer reads the plan away from your kitchen, often with no history of your process. The chart is how they see your line without standing on it.

How to draw a HACCP flow chart

Start from the Food Code's own skeletons. Annex 4 groups restaurant foods into three process flows by how many times they pass through the temperature danger zone. Most special processes are a version of the third:

FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 4, Food Preparation Process 1

Example Flow: RECEIVE → STORE → PREPARE → HOLD → SERVE

FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 4, Food Preparation Process 2

Example Flow: RECEIVE → STORE → PREPARE → COOK → HOLD → SERVE

FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 4, Food Preparation Process 3

Example Flow: RECEIVE → STORE → PREPARE → COOK → COOL → REHEAT → HOT HOLD → SERVE

Then make it yours:

1. Pick one food or category. 8-201.14(C) asks for a flow diagram for each specific food or category type. Group foods only when every step and every critical limit is the same.
2. Walk the line and list every step. Follow one real batch from the delivery door to the plate and write every step in order: receiving, storage, thawing, prep, packaging, cooking, cooling, holding, reheating, serving.
3. Add the waits and the rework loops. Include every hold between steps and what happens to food that misses a limit, such as reheat and re-cool or discard.
4. Mark the critical control points. Run each significant hazard through the CCP decision tree and mark the CCP steps on the chart (8-201.14(C)(2)).
5. Write the critical limit and section at each CCP. Put the number and its Food Code section next to each CCP so the chart matches the CCP summary under 8-201.14(E).
6. Check it on a live shift. Watch the process run and fix any step the chart missed or got out of order.
7. File it with the plan and keep it current. Attach the chart to the HACCP plan and redraw it whenever the recipe, equipment or process changes.

No special symbols are required. Boxes, arrows and a clear mark on each CCP are enough. The charts below highlight CCPs in teal and print the critical limit and section under each one, which is what reviewers like to see. To decide which steps are CCPs, use the CCP decision tree.

Sous vide flow chart

Raw food is bagged, sealed, then cooked in the bag, chilled and held cold. The Food Code's rules for this process are in 3-502.12(D). This chart uses storage option (i), holding at 34°F; your plan may pick another of the four options.

Full plan: sous vide short rib sample plan. Rules in plain words: sous vide HACCP plan guide.

Cook-chill flow chart

Food is cooked first, then hot filled into bags and sealed, chilled fast and held cold. The sealing step is a control point of its own: the bag must be sealed before the food drops below 135°F (3-502.12(D)(2)(d)). This chart uses storage option (ii), 7 days at 41°F, and reheats for a steam table.

Full plan: cook-chill soup sample plan.

Vacuum-packed raw meat flow chart

Reduced oxygen packaging without a variance falls under 3-502.12(B): the food is held at 41°F or less and must meet at least one barrier. Raw meat qualifies through its high level of competing organisms. The label and the 30-day shelf life are where most of the control sits.

Full plan: vacuum-packed raw beef sample plan. Rules: reduced oxygen packaging guide.

Vacuum-packed frozen fish flow chart

Fish is the strictest case. A restaurant may not vacuum pack fish for the fridge at all:

FDA Food Code 2022, 3-502.12(C)

Except for FISH that is frozen before, during, and after PACKAGING and bears a label indicating that it is to be kept frozen until time of use, a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT may not PACKAGE FISH using a REDUCED OXYGEN PACKAGING method.

The chart below follows that rule end to end, including the step people forget: the fish comes out of the bag before it thaws (3-501.13(E)). The Food Code sets no temperature number for "frozen", so those CCPs are marked without one; your plan states how you check it.

Full plan: frozen fish ROP sample plan.

Acidified sushi rice flow chart

Adding vinegar to make rice safe at room temperature is a 3-502.11(C) process: it needs a variance and a HACCP plan. The one CCP is acidification, measured as pH on every batch. The room-temperature holding time is set by your plan and reviewed with the variance, so it has no number from the Food Code here.

Holding sushi rice under Time as a Public Health Control instead needs written procedures, not a variance. Full plan: sushi rice sample plan. Rules: sushi rice HACCP plan guide.

Curing flow chart (whole-muscle meat)

Curing needs a variance under 3-502.11(B), and Annex 6 of the Food Code is blunt about the plan:

FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 6, section 3(F)(3)

A HACCP plan is needed for all curing operations.

Annex 6 names cure handling and weighing as critical control points and gives a temperature range for dry curing muscle cuts. The cure amount itself comes from your recipe and USDA rules, so the weighing CCP is marked without a Food Code number. The cook step's limit depends on the cut and how it is cured, so your plan fills it in from 3-401.11.

Full plans: house bacon and salmon gravlax. Rules: curing HACCP plan guide.

Hot smoking flow chart

Smoking for flavor is cooking. Smoking as a way to preserve food needs a variance under 3-502.11(A). Annex 6 also draws the line on cold smoking:

FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 6, section 2

Cold smoking where the temperature achieved by the product is greater than 41ºF requires a variance.

For smoked fish, the salt and the smoke time and temperature work together to control Clostridium botulinum. Those targets come from FDA's fish hazards guidance rather than the Food Code text, so the brine CCP is marked here without a number; your plan states them and cites the source.

Full plan: hot-smoked trout sample plan. Rules: smoking HACCP plan guide.

Common flow chart mistakes

• Missing steps. Thawing, holding between steps, the trip from the kitchen to a second location, the bag waiting on the counter before it goes into the bath. If it happens, it goes on the chart.
• One chart for everything. The Food Code asks for a chart per food or category type. A cured item and a sous vide item cannot share one.
• A chart that disagrees with the CCP table. The steps marked CCP on the chart must be exactly the CCPs in your 8-201.14(E) summary, with the same limits.
• No rework path. What happens to a batch that misses its cooling checkpoint? Show the reheat and restart, or the discard.
• Drawn from the recipe, not the line. Watch one real batch. The chart should match what your cooks do on a Friday night, not what the recipe card says.
• Equipment you do not own. A blast chiller on the chart and an ice bath in the kitchen is the first thing an inspector notices.

ClearHACCP draws the chart from your answers and keeps it matched to your CCP table, ready to submit. You sign it. Your health department decides. Not sure you need a plan at all? Check free.

Frequently asked questions

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