How to prepare for the HACCP Plan submittal?
Follow these steps to finalize your HACCP plan before submitting it to the Health Department or any other 3rd party.
Please note: HACCP plan's PDF download is only available with annual subscription packages. See more information on our Pricing page.
Step 1: Generate your HACCP Plan's first draft
FoodDocs is a helpful tool for creating a HACCP plan in just an hour.
- Log in to your FoodDocs account
- Go to the HACCP plan.
- Answer the basic questions about your business, and our AI will generate your Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points, Flow chart, SOPs, and Prerequisite programs.
- To speed up your HACCP Plan creation process, our software uses pre-fill functionality. It means the software will pre-select the forms according to local regulations and other similar companies’ data.
Tips:
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- Attentively review all your selections and switch on only those which apply to your operations.
- If any process step is outsourced (e.g., shipping services, packaging, etc.), switch it off.
- The flow chart should mirror your production flow; read more about how to create and edit your flow chart.
Step 2: Customize your Hazard Analysis according to your company's specifics
- Read your Hazard Analysis starting from chapter 3.1
- Customize your HACCP Plan content according to your company's specifics:
- If you notice any hazard descriptions that do not apply to your operations, click Edit in the top right, deactivate descriptions, and Save.
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- If you notice a text that doesn't apply to your company's specific, Edit or delete it accordingly.
Step 3: Download the documents and submit them!
- To be able to download your HACCP plan, please Confirm it first.

- Download your HACCP Plan
- If you didn’t get the file, please check your downloads folder.
- When you unzip the downloaded HACCP folder, you will see four subfolders: HACCP, Pre-Requisite Programs, Standard Operational Procedures, and Temperature Record Templates.
If you apply to the local Health Department, submit the following files:
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- HACCP folder > Print out/save as a PDF these chapters of the HACCP plan PDF with the general information about your company (pages 4-10):
- Product-based HACCP plan
- Product-based Hazard Analysis
- Flow chart(s)
Step 4: Edit the HACCP Plan according to your inspector's feedback
Note! There is never a 100% guarantee to pass the inspection the first time, even with the most professional food safety consulting companies. 95% of the submittals, food businesses must review their HACCP plans again.
- Once you receive feedback from the authorities you applied to, log in to your FoodDocs account and customize your HACCP plan accordingly.
- Use our article about How to customize your HACCP Plan? to apply the changes.
Something we haven't covered?
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