Complete Guide

Safer Food, Better Business

Everything you need to know about SFBB — the pack structure, how to fill it in, what EHOs check, and the mistakes that cost you your rating.

Cross-contamination

Hygiene, cloths, separating foods, allergens, pests

Cleaning

Handwashing, schedules, clean as you go

Chilling

Storage, cooling, defrosting, freezing

Cooking

75°C core, reheating, hot holding, acrylamide

Management

Diary, reviews, training, suppliers, stock

Your SFBB day

Opening

Opening checks

Staff fit for work, surfaces clean, fridges working (record temps), soap and towels stocked, hot water on, no pests, premises tidy.

Deliveries

Check and record

Temperature of chilled deliveries (below 8°C), frozen solid, use-by dates correct, supplier name and goods logged.

Service

Cook, record, prove it

Probe cooked food to 75°C core. Record temperatures. Hot hold above 63°C. Separate raw and ready-to-eat. Clean as you go.

Problems

Write it down

Anything that went wrong: fridge temp high, food returned, equipment broken. What you did about it. EHOs want to see this.

Closing

Closing checks

Food covered and labelled, expired food discarded, waste removed, surfaces disinfected, washing up done, floors clean, premises secure. Manager signs.

4 weeks

4-weekly review

Walk the kitchen. Review diary entries. Check for recurring issues. Update safe methods if anything changed. Document it all — even "no problems found".

How SFBB affects your rating

SFBB determines your "Confidence in Management" score — one of three categories. A bad score here drags everything down.

0
Exemplary SFBB, daily diary, reviews done
Rating 5
5
Good system, minor gaps
Rating 4-5
10
System exists but incomplete diary or reviews
Rating 3
20
No documented system or no understanding
Rating 1-2
30
Nothing in place at all
Rating 0

What is SFBB?

Safer Food, Better Business is a free toolkit from the Food Standards Agency that helps small food businesses in England and Wales comply with food safety law. Under EC Regulation 852/2004, Article 5, every food business must have a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles. SFBB is the FSA's recommended way to do this.

SFBB itself is not legally mandatory — what IS mandatory is having a system. But SFBB is the most widely recognised format, and it is what EHOs expect to see during inspections. Using an alternative is possible but invites questions.

England and Wales only. Northern Ireland uses "Safe Catering" and Scotland uses "CookSafe". The legal requirement is the same, but the specific packs are different.

Who needs it?

Every food business that handles, prepares, stores, or serves food: restaurants, cafes, pubs, takeaways, hotels, caterers, food stalls, mobile units, bakeries, delis, childminders, care homes, school kitchens. If you serve food, you need SFBB or an equivalent documented system.

The five sections explained

1. Cross-contamination

Personal hygiene, handwashing, use of cloths, separating raw and ready-to-eat food, colour-coded boards, allergen management (all 14 declarable allergens), pest control, and premises maintenance. This is the biggest section with 7 safe method sheets.

2. Cleaning

How to wash hands properly, effective two-stage cleaning (wash then disinfect), clear-and-clean-as-you-go during service, and creating a cleaning schedule that covers every surface, piece of equipment, and area.

3. Chilling

Fridge storage at 0-5°C, correct storage order (raw meat on bottom), cooling hot food to below 8°C within 90 minutes, safe defrosting methods, and freezing procedures.

4. Cooking

Core temperature of 75°C, foods that need extra care (poultry, burgers, rolled joints), reheating to 75°C (82°C in Scotland), hot holding above 63°C, checking your menu for risks, and preventing acrylamide.

5. Management

Opening and closing checks, "prove it" verification, allergen communication, staff training records, supplier management, stock control, and product withdrawal procedures. This section also includes the daily diary and 4-weekly review templates.

How to fill in your SFBB pack

  1. Download the right pack from food.gov.uk — caterers, retailers, or childminders
  2. Work through each safe method — read the guidance, write what YOUR business does, complete "what to do if things go wrong". About 1 hour per section
  3. Complete the Safe Method Completion Record — tick off which methods you have implemented
  4. Set up management documents — cleaning schedule, suppliers list, staff training records
  5. Start using the diary daily — opening checks, temperatures, problems, closing checks, manager signature
  6. Do the 4-weekly review — walk-around, review diary, document findings
  7. Keep completed pages until your next inspection (ideally 12 months)

Blueroll replaces the paper pack. Digital SFBB checklists, automatic temperature logging, cleaning sign-offs, and one-tap PDF reports. Your team fills it in on their phones — timestamped, backed up, always inspection-ready. Start free trial

How SFBB maps to HACCP

SFBB translates the 7 HACCP principles into plain English for small businesses:

Principle 1

Hazard analysis

Safe method sheets identify the hazards for you — biological, chemical, physical contamination risks

Principle 2

Critical control points

Cooking temps, chilling temps, separation of raw/ready-to-eat — identified in each safe method

Principle 3

Critical limits

Built in: fridge 0-5°C, cooking 75°C, hot hold 63°C, cooling within 90 minutes

Principle 4

Monitoring

Daily diary with opening/closing checks, temperature recording, "prove it" checks

Principle 5

Corrective actions

"What to do if things go wrong" in each safe method + diary problem recording

Principle 6

Verification

4-weekly review, "prove it" checks, probe calibration

Principle 7

Documentation

The diary, 4-weekly reviews, safe method completion record, training records, supplier lists, cleaning schedules — all kept on-site for inspection

13 mistakes that cost you your rating

  1. No SFBB pack at all. The single biggest mistake. Without a documented system, your Confidence in Management score hits 20-30 — enough to drag you to a 0 or 1.
  2. Pack exists but never filled in. A blank SFBB pack is almost as bad as not having one. EHOs open it immediately.
  3. Diary not completed daily. Gaps in entries are a red flag. It takes 2 minutes a day.
  4. No manager sign-off. Someone must sign the diary every day the business operates.
  5. Problems fixed but not recorded. Fixing an issue without documenting it scores zero. EHOs specifically look for corrective action records.
  6. 4-weekly review never done. Many businesses do the diary but forget the monthly review entirely.
  7. Safe methods not updated. Changed your menu, equipment, or supplier? The SFBB must reflect it.
  8. Staff not trained on safe methods. If your team cannot answer basic EHO questions about your procedures, Confidence in Management drops.
  9. Temperature records missing or identical. Sporadic checks or the same number every day (3°C, 3°C, 3°C) suggests fabrication.
  10. Completed diary pages thrown away. Keep them until your next inspection — at least 12 months.
  11. Outdated pack. Missing allergen sheets (Natasha's Law, 2021) or acrylamide guidance (2018).
  12. Filling in the diary in advance or retrospectively. Backdating entries is obvious to inspectors and defeats the purpose.
  13. Ignoring previous inspection recommendations. This is heavily penalised — it shows lack of management commitment.

Download the SFBB pack

All packs are free from the FSA:

Supplementary packs available for: Chinese cuisine (also in Cantonese), Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Sri Lankan cuisine, residential care homes, and childminders.

Check you have the latest version. The FSA updates individual safe method sheets without changing version numbers. Re-download periodically to ensure you have current guidance, especially for allergens and acrylamide.

Related guides

Replace your paper SFBB pack

Digital checklists, automatic temperature logging, and one-tap compliance reports. Your team fills it in on their phones — always complete, always inspection-ready.

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