Paper vs Digital Food Control Plan Records
Let's settle one thing first: paper is completely legal. MPI publishes free printable record blanks for the Simply Safe & Suitable template on its forms and documents page — refreshed as recently as 27 February 2026 — and its Record keeping guidance (February 2026) explicitly lists simple digital methods as acceptable too. Neither method is more valid than the other. This page is about the work each one takes.
Keep the binder as long as you like — the free diary runs alongside it.
Paper or digital: which is less work?
Both keep you on the right side of the record rules. The Food Regulations 2015 don't care whether a record is ink or pixels — only that it's accurate, legible, dated, identifies who did the task, is available when your verifier or MPI asks, and is kept for at least 4 years (regulations 36 and 81; 37 and 82). The real difference is friction: digital is quicker at the fridge door, nudges people before a check is missed, and hands your verifier a tidy pack — while paper needs no battery, no login and no setup, and never minds wet hands in the walk-in chiller. Here's the honest row-by-row.
| The job | Paper | Digital | Honest call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logging a fridge temperature | Find the sheet, find a pen that works, write the date, time, reading and initials. Quick once it's habit. | A few taps; the date, time and who-did-it are captured automatically — the exact details regulation 37 asks of a record. | Digital |
| Remembering before a check is missed | Relies on routine and a wall calendar. A busy service can quietly swallow the 3pm check. | Reminders nudge whoever's on before a gap becomes a gap in the records. (Reminders live in the paid plan.) | Digital |
| Finding a record from 14 months ago | Which folder? Which box? Hope it wasn't the page that got wet. | Jump to the date and it's on screen. Full 4-year history lives in the paid plan — free-plan records are never deleted and unlock when you upgrade. | Digital |
| Corrective actions | Usually a separate sheet, cross-referenced by hand to the log that triggered it. | The fix is attached to the out-of-range entry itself, so the whole story reads in one place. | Digital |
| Keeping records for 4 years (regs 36 & 81, Food Regulations 2015) | Fully satisfies the law — with storage discipline: dry, labelled, findable folders for 4 years. | Fully satisfies the law — with continuity discipline: export your records so your history never depends on any one provider. | Draw |
| Handing records to your verifier | A well-kept ring binder works — verifiers read them every week. The flicking and photocopying is yours to do. | A dated verification pack for exactly the period asked, assembled in one click (paid plan, or a one-off pack for NZ$99 + GST). | Digital |
| Cost | Cheap but not free: printing, ink and folders — plus re-printing when MPI refreshes its templates, as it did on 27 February 2026. | The daily diary is free. Reminders, 4 years of history and verification packs are NZ$390/yr + GST. | Draw |
| Battery, logins and power cuts | Never runs flat, never asks for a password, keeps working through a power cut. | A phone can break or go flat. Your records live in your account rather than on the device, and you can export or print them at any time — but paper takes this row. | Paper |
| Wet hands in the walk-in chiller | A pencil and clipboard don't mind cold or condensation. | Touchscreens are fussy with wet or gloved hands; you'll sometimes dry off before you can log. | Paper |
| Getting started | Print MPI's blanks and start this afternoon. Zero setup. | A few minutes to create an account and name your fridges before the first log goes in. | Paper |
That's five rows to digital, three to paper and two draws — not a whitewash, and it shouldn't be. None of the digital wins change what the law requires, and none of the paid features are legally required: the record duties can be met with paper, or with the free plan plus exports. What the paid plan buys is the friction rows — reminders, instant history and the one-click pack — and your free-plan records are never deleted; they unlock when you upgrade.
When paper genuinely makes sense
If you run a small operation — one or two fridges, low volume, the same person doing the checks at the same time every day — a printed pack in a ring binder can serve you for years. Strong routine beats clever tooling, and MPI's record blanks are well designed and free in PDF, Word and Excel. We keep plain-English guides to the printable templates precisely because paper record-keeping deserves to be done well, not talked down.
One caution for paper users: make sure you're printing from the current blanks. The old MPI Food Control Plan Diary belonged to a template that was revoked — businesses had to move off it by February 2024 — and its PDF still floats around online. Here's the full story of the diary and what replaced it.
Where paper starts costing real time is scale and turnover: more fridges, more staff, split shifts, a manager who isn't on site every day. That's when the friction rows above stop being theoretical — and when it's worth trying digital. More on how the records themselves translate: can I keep my food safety records digitally in NZ?
Switching without losing anything
You don't have to jump. Keep the paper diary going exactly as it is, and start logging on the phone alongside it — same checks, both places, for as long as it takes to trust the new habit. The daily diary is free, so the trial costs nothing and there's no deadline.
When you're ready, retire the binder to the archive shelf rather than the bin: paper records you've already made still need to be kept for their 4 years (regulations 36 and 81, Food Regulations 2015). From then on, pick one method as the place records go, so staff always know where to look — and nothing falls between two systems.
Paper vs digital FAQs
Is a paperless Food Control Plan allowed in NZ?
Yes — your records can be entirely digital. MPI's Record keeping guidance (February 2026) explicitly lists digital methods as acceptable ways to keep them: spreadsheets, Google Sheets and Docs, online forms such as Jot Form, online storage you can reach from your phone, even photos of a whiteboard. MPI doesn't endorse any product (including this one); what matters is that every record is accurate, legible, dated, identifies who did the task, is available when your verifier or MPI asks, and is kept for at least 4 years. More detail in our digital records guide.
Do I have to switch to digital?
No. Paper record-keeping is legal and actively supported — MPI refreshed its printable record blanks as recently as 27 February 2026. The only reason to switch is friction: checks getting missed, pages going missing, or the night before a verification visit spent reassembling a year of paper. If the binder is working, keep the binder.
Can I run paper and digital at the same time?
Yes, and it's the switch path we'd recommend: keep the paper diary going, log on the phone alongside it, and drop the paper only once the new habit has stuck. Nothing is lost in the overlap. Just settle on one method as the source of truth once you're confident, so a record never sits half in each system.
Sources & review
- MPI: Record keeping guidance, February 2026 (PDF)
- MPI: Forms and documents for Food Act plans and programmes (record blanks refreshed 27 February 2026)
- Food Regulations 2015 (regs 36–37, 81–82)
Reviewed on 3 August 2026 by the KitchenSorted team. Regulatory pages are re-reviewed quarterly, and immediately when MPI announces template or policy changes. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
This page is general information, not legal or food-safety advice. Always confirm requirements with MPI, your registration authority, or your verifier.
Run the Free Diary Alongside Your Binder
Keep paper going as long as you like — start logging on the phone next to it. Nothing is lost in the switch, and the daily diary is free forever.