The four steps
- 01
Check what you need
Pick what your kitchen does (sous vide, cook-chill, vacuum packing, sushi rice, curing, smoking) and your state. You get the Food Code section that applies and a straight answer: a HACCP plan, a variance and a plan, or neither. No account needed.
- 02
Answer about 15 questions
Your menu items, your sealer, bath and chiller, how you cool, how long you store, who checks and who verifies. One question per screen on a phone, each with a line on why we ask and the section behind it.
- 03
Read the first sections
The cover letter, the contents with the page count of every section, and sections (A) and (B) in full. The hazard analysis, flow diagrams, critical control points table, procedures, training plan and blank logs show as locked sections with their page counts until you buy. Anything unusual goes to a person, who checks it within 1 business day.
- 04
Buy, sign and submit
Pay $249 once when you want the clean files. You sign the plan and submit it to your health department. If they ask for changes, we make them free for 12 months.
Step one is free and needs no account: Do I need a HACCP plan?
The questions
Thirteen core questions for every plan, then a few for each process you run. Sous vide asks about your cook times, how you seal, how you cool and which of the four storage options you use. Sushi rice asks for your recipe, your pH meter and how you calibrate it. Curing asks for your cure and meat weights, and the nitrite math is done for you.
| We ask | Why |
|---|---|
| Your state and county | Sets the Food Code edition and who reviews your plan |
| The processes you run | Each one has its own Food Code section |
| Your menu items | Each item maps to a food category with its own cooking rule |
| Who you serve | Hospitals, nursing homes and child care get no undercooked options |
| Who monitors, who verifies | Names and titles for the plan |
| Your thermometer and how you calibrate it | Accurate to ±2°F (4-203.11(B)) |
| Where the work is done | How raw and ready-to-eat food are kept apart |
| No bare-hand contact | Utensils or gloves on ready-to-eat food (3-301.11(B)) |
| Cleaning the sealer and surfaces | How and how often |
| Training | Who is trained, on what, and how you sign them off |
| Where the food goes | Served here, sent to another of your locations, or sold packaged |
| Labels | What goes on the bag |
| Records | Phone, paper or both, and for how long (at least 6 months for sous vide and cook-chill, 3-502.12(D)(3)(b)) |
The live checks: green, amber, red
While you answer, a check panel scores each answer with the same engine that builds the plan.
- MeetsCooled from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours3-501.14(A)(1)
- VarianceChicken cooked below 165°F: needs a variance and a person's review3-401.11(A)(3), 3-401.11(D)(4)
- FixFridge has no continuous time and temperature monitoring. Add a recorder, then come back3-502.12(D)(2)(f)
- Green Meets the Food Code as answered.
- Amber Allowed, but it needs a variance or a step you must add. We tell you which.
- Red Cannot be planned as answered. You get the exact fix, never a smoothed-over plan.
Where the numbers come from
Every critical limit, time and temperature in your plan comes from a fixed, versioned rule pack. Each number in a pack is tied to the FDA Food Code sentence it comes from, checked word for word against the FDA's own file, and the section prints next to the number in your plan. For example:
FDA Food Code 2022, 3-501.14(A)(1)Within 2 hours from 57ºC (135ºF) to 21ºC (70°F)
- AI only writes descriptive sentences inside a fixed structure. It can never set or change a number.
- Each plan records which pack and version it used. If a pack is corrected, affected plans are flagged and you are offered a free revision.
- Variance requests are prepared for you to submit. We never say a variance is granted.
Your state may run an older Food Code edition or add its own rules. See your state, and ask your health department for its checklist before you submit.
How fast
Your plan in minutes. If every answer passes every check, the plan is built and ready to preview in under 2 minutes.
If anything is unusual, a person checks it within 1 business day. That means 8 working hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm US Eastern. A plan sent at 4pm on Friday is due by 4pm on Monday. The clock pauses while we wait on you.
Inspector revisions within 2 business days. If we are late on either one, and the plan was not waiting on you, your location gets 3 extra months of logs automatically.
Your data
We keep it small: your business details, staff initials for the logs, your answers and your logs. No Social Security numbers, no health data, no payment details (our checkout partner, Whop, holds those). Your logs are yours: export them any time, free, forever. Read more on security.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take?
What does a person review?
What if you miss the 1 business day?
Do I need to know HACCP to use it?
Does ClearHACCP approve my plan?
Sources
Every temperature, time and pH on this page is quoted from the FDA Food Code 2022 with its section number. Your state or county may run an older edition or add its own rules, and only your regulatory authority approves a HACCP plan or grants a variance. This page explains the rules in plain words; it is not legal advice.