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Food safety plans

HACCP vs SFBB: which do you need?

They’re often talked about as if you have to choose one or the other. You don’t — they’re two ways of meeting the same legal duty. Here’s the plain-English difference.

UK food businesses are legally required to have food safety management procedures based on HACCP principles — that comes from Regulation 852/2004. The question isn’t really “HACCP or SFBB,” it’s “which form of a HACCP-based system fits a business my size.”

What HACCP is

HACCP — Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points — is the underlying method for keeping food safe. It works through seven principles:

  1. 1Identify the hazards
  2. 2Identify the critical control points (CCPs) where they must be controlled
  3. 3Set critical limits for each (e.g. a cooking temperature)
  4. 4Monitor the CCPs
  5. 5Decide the corrective action when a limit is breached
  6. 6Verify the system works
  7. 7Keep records and documentation

Building this from scratch as a bespoke plan makes sense for larger or more complex operations. For a small kitchen, doing all of it from a blank page would be a lot — which is exactly why SFBB exists.

What SFBB is

Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) is the FSA’s ready-made, HACCP-based pack for small caterers. Instead of writing your own plan, you follow proven “safe methods” (for cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking) and keep a simple daily diary. It satisfies the HACCP-based requirement without the paperwork of a full custom plan. SFBB is used in England and Wales; Scotland has CookSafe and Northern Ireland has Safe Catering — the same idea for each nation.

So which do you need?

SFBB is usually enough if…

You’re a small, independent restaurant, café or takeaway doing standard cooking and prep. It’s what most environmental health officers expect to see.

A full HACCP plan may be needed if…

You’re larger or multi-site, or you do higher-risk or unusual processes (sous-vide, vacuum packing, curing) that the standard safe methods don’t cover.

Either way, the daily records are the living part of the system — the temperatures, cleaning, and checks that show the plan is actually being followed. That’s the bit a digital food safety management system makes effortless to keep and to prove.

Frequently asked questions

Is SFBB a legal requirement?

Using SFBB specifically isn’t compulsory — but having a food safety management system based on HACCP principles is a legal requirement for UK food businesses (Regulation 852/2004). SFBB is simply the FSA’s recognised, ready-made way for small caterers to meet that requirement.

Does SFBB count as HACCP?

Yes. Safer Food, Better Business is built on HACCP principles — it packages them into "safe methods" and a daily diary so a small business doesn’t have to write a full HACCP plan from scratch. Running SFBB properly satisfies the HACCP-based requirement.

Do I need a full written HACCP plan?

Most small, independent restaurants and cafés don’t — SFBB (or the equivalent for your nation) is enough and is what most environmental health officers expect to see. Larger, more complex operations, or those doing higher-risk processes, may need a full, bespoke HACCP plan.

What is a critical control point (CCP)?

A CCP is a step where a hazard must be controlled to keep food safe — for example, cooking to a core temperature that kills harmful bacteria, or chilling quickly enough to stop them growing. Each CCP has a limit you monitor and record.

Keep your plan alive, not in a drawer

Whether you run SFBB or full HACCP, HospoPilot keeps the daily records that prove it — temps, cleaning, allergens and more.

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Further reading: FSA — Safer Food, Better Business · Food safety management software guide

Last reviewed July 2026 · HospoPilot editorial · General guidance, not legal advice.