Skip to content

Food Control Plan Record Blanks — Every Current Download

The record blanks are MPI's free, printable record sheets for businesses on the Simply Safe & Suitable template Food Control Plan. The current set was refreshed on 27 February 2026 and now comes in PDF, Word and Excel. Direct links to all three are below, along with a plain-English map of which records are mandatory and a printable daily record sheet of our own.

What are the Food Control Plan record blanks?

They're the blank record sheets MPI supplies alongside the Simply Safe & Suitable template — the pages you fill in daily for fridge temperatures, deliveries, training, sickness and corrective actions. They replaced the old Food Control Plan Diary, which was retired with the old template (businesses had to move off it by February 2024); MPI no longer supplies or promotes the diary. Using the record blanks is free, and keeping records on paper this way is completely legal — MPI actively maintains them.

Here are the current downloads from MPI's Forms and documents for Food Act plans and programmes page:

Download Format Best for
Simply Safe & Suitable record blanks (PDF) PDF, 2.3 MB Print as-is and file in a ring binder
Simply Safe & Suitable record blanks (Word) DOCX, 219 KB — new Feb 2026 Editing the sheets to match your kitchen before printing
Simply Safe & Suitable record blanks (Excel) XLSX, 489 KB — new Feb 2026 Keeping records in a spreadsheet instead of on paper
Record keeping guidance (February 2026) PDF, 2.1 MB Worked examples, plus MPI's own list of which records are mandatory

Specialist businesses have their own packs on the same MPI page: wine record blanks, cheesemaker record blanks and biltong records.

What changed in the 27 February 2026 refresh?

The refresh made the record blanks easier to use — the recording requirements themselves did not change. MPI added new sheets and, for the first time, editable Word and Excel versions so businesses can adapt the blanks to fit how they actually work. New in the pack:

The refresh is noted on MPI's Forms and documents page (“27 February 2026: Updated Simply Safe and Suitable record blanks available”). If you're still printing an older pack, swap to the current one — it lines up with the current plan version, v39-00005.

Which record blanks are mandatory — and which are optional?

Not every sheet in the pack is compulsory. MPI's Record keeping guidance (February 2026) maps each record blank to whether keeping that record is required. The mandatory set is smaller than most operators think:

Mandatory records

  • Daily fridge/chiller temperature checks (the temperature of the food)
  • Trusted suppliers, and supplier deliveries — supplier, food type and quantity, temperature at receipt where applicable
  • Staff training (who, date, what was covered, signatures)
  • Staff sickness (who was sick, and when)
  • Equipment and facilities maintenance — including calibrating your own thermometer
  • When something goes wrong: what happened, the fix, and prevention
  • Customer complaints (when one occurs)
  • Proving-your-method and batch checks for higher-risk processes (cooking poultry or minced meat, cooling, reheating, sous vide, and similar)

Optional (but worth having)

  • Opening and closing checks
  • Daily cleaning results — MPI says recording how and what you clean is optional
  • Allergen information records
  • Thermometer calibration results (doing the calibration is required; logging the numbers is optional)

Optional sheets still earn their keep: a verifier reviewing your records moves faster when the evidence is there.

Whichever sheets you use, every record must be accurate, legible, dated, identify who did it, and be kept for at least 4 years (regulations 36 and 81, Food Regulations 2015). More on that in our record-retention guide.

Printable daily record sheet

A general-purpose daily sheet that works for any check — temperatures, opening and closing, deliveries, maintenance. One row per check; note the result and any action taken, then initial it.

Daily records — Date: ____________   Site: ____________

Date Check Result Action taken (if needed) Initials
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         

Keep completed sheets for at least 4 years (regs 36 & 81, Food Regulations 2015). Every entry needs the date, the result and who did it.

How to use the record blanks

  1. Start with the mandatory set. Print the sheets for fridge temperatures, deliveries, training, sickness, maintenance and corrective actions. Add optional sheets where they help you run the kitchen.
  2. Adapt them. The Word and Excel versions exist so you can delete columns you don't use and add your own units and areas before printing.
  3. Fill them in as things happen — not from memory at the end of the week. Each entry needs the date, the result and initials.
  4. File and keep for 4 years. A ring binder per year works. If a page goes missing, there's no backup — which is the honest weak spot of paper.

Paper record-keeping is legal and MPI supports it with these very sheets. The trade-off is friction: chasing missed entries, finding a specific week from two years ago, and assembling everything when your verification visit comes around. That's the part a Food Control Plan app removes — and you can compare paper and digital honestly here. More printable sheets live in our templates library.

Sources & review

Reviewed on 2 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.

The Same Records, Without the Ring Binder

KitchenSorted keeps every record on these sheets digitally — dated, initialled and searchable. The daily diary is free forever.

Start free See pricing →