Guide for small dairies and farmstead cheesemakers
Food safety records for a small dairy: what to write down every day
An inspection rarely goes wrong because the cheese is unsafe. It goes wrong because the records are missing, written up the night before, or show a warm fridge with nothing about what was done. This guide lists the records a small dairy is usually asked for, how often to keep them, and what a complete day looks like.
Why records matter
Your food safety plan says what can go wrong and how you control it. Your records are the proof that you actually did it, day after day. In the European Union, for example, every food business must work with procedures based on HACCP principles and keep records that fit the size of the business. Other countries have similar rules. A small farm does not need a binder of forms, but it does need the few records below, kept honestly and on time.
1. Temperatures, every day
Note the temperature of every fridge, cold room and ripening cave at least once a day, with the time and your initials. Write down the safe range from your own plan next to it, for example 0 to 5 °C for a cheese fridge or 8 to 14 °C for a cave, so anyone can see at a glance whether a reading is fine.
2. Corrective actions, every time a reading is off
This is the record inspectors look at first. A reading out of range is not a failure on its own; a reading out of range with nothing after it is. Each time, write what you did and when you checked again: door left open, closed it, 12 °C at 09:00. If product was affected, write what happened to it.
3. Cleaning
Note what was cleaned and disinfected, when, and by whom: the vat, moulds, tables, floor, milking equipment. Follow the frequency in your plan. Daily for the make room is common.
4. Pasteurisation or heat treatment
If you pasteurise or thermise, note for every batch the temperature reached, how long it was held, the time and your initials. Common minimums are 72 °C for 15 seconds or 63 °C for 30 minutes, but your rules and your plan decide. For raw milk cheese, your plan will name other checks, such as milk tests, and those need their own record.
5. Batches and deliveries
Give every batch a code and note the date, the milk used, the product, the quantity and the best-before date. For everything that comes in, note the supplier, the date, what it was and, for chilled goods, the temperature on arrival. With these two records you can trace any cheese one step back to its milk and one step forward to where it went, which is what you need if a batch ever has to be recalled.
A complete day, as an example
| Time | Record |
|---|---|
| 07:40 | Cheese fridge 3.5 °C (range 0 to 5 °C). EY |
| 07:42 | Cave 15.5 °C (range 8 to 14 °C). Door found open, closed. EY |
| 09:00 | Cave checked again: 12 °C. Cheese not affected. EY |
| 10:15 | Batch T-0611: 100 L milk, 72 °C held 15 s, tomme, best before 06.02. EY |
| 14:30 | Delivery: cultures from the usual supplier, 4 °C on arrival. EY |
| 17:00 | Vat, moulds, tables and floor cleaned and disinfected. EY |
Six lines, a few minutes in total. That is a day an inspector can read in seconds.
Three habits that make records trustworthy. Write at the time, not at the end of the week. Never leave a reading out of range without an action. Keep the records for as long as your rules require, and at least as long as your longest best-before date.
Keep them on your phone
CurdLedger has a food safety log built for small dairies: temperatures for every fridge and cave with their safe range, a corrective action that has to be filled in when a reading is off, cleaning, pasteurisation, batches and deliveries. You can print a report for any period for the inspector. Free to start, no sign-up, and your records stay on your phone.
Written by Emanuil Yankov, who builds CurdLedger. This guide is general information. It does not replace your food safety plan or the rules that apply where you produce; your local food authority can tell you exactly what they expect.