Restaurant food safety under EU and US rules — seven principles, three processes, one plan.
Most HACCP books are written for factories and for one country. This one is written for the kitchen — and puts the European Union and the United States side by side. Where they agree, it says so once. Where they differ, it gives both, with a source for every number.
| Topic | EU | US |
|---|---|---|
| HACCP | Procedures based on HACCP principles are mandatory for every establishment, with flexibility for small ones | A formal HACCP plan only for special processes; active managerial control for everything else |
| Temperatures | The hygiene regulation mostly sets no numbers — they come from Member States and their national guides | Exact temperatures and times in the FDA Food Code |
| Allergens | 14, information mandatory for non-prepacked food too | 9, written notification for unpackaged food |
| Fish served raw | −20 °C (−4 °F) for at least 24 h, or −35 °C (−31 °F) for at least 15 h | −20 °C (−4 °F) for 7 days, or −35 °C (−31 °F) for 15 h (with conditions) |
| Raw on the menu | No specific menu note in these regulations | Mandatory consumer advisory on the menu |
| Inspection | Risk-based and, as a rule, unannounced | At least once every 6 months, with deadlines for corrections |
Sources: Regulations (EC) No 852/2004 and 853/2004, (EU) No 1169/2011 and 2017/625; FDA Food Code 2026. In detail, article by article — in Parts 2, 3 and 8.
The food safety house, seven principles, twelve steps.
Who writes the rules and when a HACCP plan is mandatory.
Eleven EU regulations and the US model code — what applies to a kitchen.
Premises, water, cleaning, pests, hands, the sick worker, receiving.
Bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, chemicals, foreign objects, allergens.
Hazard analysis, the decision tree, limits, monitoring, records.
Three flows instead of fifty plans for fifty dishes.
From receiving to reheating, with the legal force of every number.
Sous-vide, vacuum, smoking, steak tartare, buffets, catering, delivery.
How to measure food safety culture and what each station needs to learn.
Internal audit, guest complaints, suspected food poisoning, recalls.
One restaurant’s filled-in HACCP plan, from the team to the signatures.
28 sheets — one page, one job, one signature.
Glossary, °C ↔ °F, a list of all regulations and an index of key numbers.
The regulations were read in their original text, not retold. Where a regulation says nothing, the book says so plainly. Click a page to see it full size.
In the EU, most cooking, cooling and holding numbers are set by the Member States. In the US, they come from the Food Code. The book gives both — in °C and °F — and says how binding each one is.
One A4 page per job, black and white for printing. You write in the limits yourself — an empty field is better than an invented number. All of them also come as a separate PDF.
O-02Refrigerator temperatures
O-04Cooking · core temperature
O-05Cooling of cooked food
O-15Allergen matrix
O-17Employee health
O-26HACCP worksheet
The same layout as Acacia’s plan in Part 12: team, product description, flow diagrams, prerequisite programs, hazard analysis, critical control point cards, verification and revision history. You fill in the gray fields — and the plan is yours.
HACCP Code is sold on its own, and it also comes in the Empire package, together with Restaurant Code and a ready-made system for the whole team.
The book and every tool for a HACCP plan under EU and US rules.
Restaurant Code + HACCP Code + a ready-made system for the team.
Checkout is through Gumroad: once you pay, the download link arrives in your inbox right away. Gumroad opens soon — until then, this page is a preview of the book.
More than thirty years in hospitality: in top hotel kitchens and restaurants and on cruise ships. He has worked and lived on four continents and knows both sides of the business — the one at the stove and the one at the owner’s desk.
He is the founder of Gostíno.ai. HACCP Code is the second book in the CODE series, after Restaurant Code.
A 327-page PDF for phone, tablet and computer. The forms also come as a separate PDF for printing on A4, and the HACCP plan is a Word template that also opens in Google Docs and LibreOffice.
Yes. The book with the forms and the Word HACCP plan template costs €39; early buyers pay €27.30. The same book also comes in the Empire package, together with Restaurant Code and a ready-made system for the whole team.
English. Every temperature is given in both °C and °F. A Serbian edition, HACCP kod, is also available.
The book covers the rules of the European Union and the United States. The seven HACCP principles are the same in the Codex Alimentarius, in EU law and in the US guidelines — only the wording differs. Your premises are always governed by the law of the country where you operate.
Every regulation was read in its original text. The date of the version used is given with each source; the latest consolidated text is from 19 August 2026.
No. The book explains the regulations and shows the method. Your premises are governed by the law of your country and the decisions of your inspectors.
No. Acacia is a fictional restaurant. Its plan shows the method from start to finish, and every number in the plan has a source and a legal-force label.
Three processes instead of fifty recipes. Five critical control points instead of thirty. Logs filled in at the moment of measuring.