SFBB 4 weekly review: what to write each month

The Safer Food, Better Business 4 weekly review is the page in your SFBB diary where you look back over the last four weeks, check that your safe methods still work, and sign to say you have done it. It is how a small kitchen shows the Food Standards Agency pack is in use, not sitting in a folder.

On paper this page sits at the end of each four-week diary, which is why people need an SFBB diary refill 4 weekly. The sheets run out. Miss the review and you have a gap an inspector can see in seconds.

What the 4-weekly review is for

Food business operators after primary production must put in place HACCP-based procedures. That duty sits in Article 5 of retained Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. For most cafés, takeaways, pubs, restaurants, bakeries and caterers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the FSA’s Safer Food, Better Business for caterers pack is how you meet it.

HACCP is not only about cooking. You also have to check that your methods still work, write down problems, and change a method if it does not. The 4-weekly review is that check.

The FSA diary asks you to look back over the last four weeks and work through a 12-question checklist (see the SFBB diary and 4-weekly review). You must complete the review even if no problems were found. The questions cover:

• Did you have any problems, or did the same thing go wrong three times or more?
• Have you reviewed your safe methods?
• Has allergen information been updated?
• Have there been equipment or process changes?
• Have new suppliers been recorded?
• Has the cleaning schedule been updated?
• Have new staff been trained in your safe methods?
• Have existing staff had refresher training?
• Have extra checks been done and recorded each week?
• Have complaints been investigated?
• Have probes been calibrated in the last 4 weeks?
• Have Prove it checks been completed?

If the same thing went wrong three times or more, write what you will do so it does not happen again. A warm fridge should already have an action on that day’s page. The review is where you notice a pattern: the same fridge, the same delivery, the same person skipping close-down.

What to write, line by line

Do it with the diary open, not from memory.

Daily checks. Look at every day you were open. Opening checks usually cover fridges, freezers, hot holding if you use it, and that you have hot water, soap and cloths. Closing checks cover leftover food, cleaning and equipment. If a day is blank, say so. Officers read dates.

Problems. Bring the important ones onto the review. Fridges are recommended to be set at 5°C or below so food is kept at 8°C or below; the 8°C food limit is the legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (see the SFBB chilled storage and display method). Write what you did: moved the food, called the engineer, or threw it out. A review that says no problems when the diary shows red readings does not help you.

Staff and changes. Name anyone new and the methods you walked them through. If someone left, note who now covers their checks. A new fryer, a new supplier, a new menu item or an outdoor fridge in summer can make a safe method out of date. Article 5 says you must review the procedure when you make a change. Use the 4-weekly page even if the change happened in week two.

Sign and date. Use your name and the real date. Do not back-date a stack of reviews.

A simple 4-weekly review checklist

Look back at	What good looks like	If you find a gap
Opening and closing checks	A completed line for every day you traded	List the missed dates and who will do the check tomorrow
Problems and actions	Each bad reading has a what-we-did note from the same day	Write the pattern (same fridge, same shift) and the fix
Staff	New starters named, with the methods you showed them	Book the training and write the date you will do it
Menu, equipment, suppliers	Changes noted and safe methods updated	Update the method now, not at the next review
Signature	Manager name and the real date	Do the review today. Do not back-date it

Do this on a quiet Monday with last month’s sheets in order. If you have not done a review for months, do not invent old signatures. Start from today, write that you are catching up, then keep the next ones on time. Your local environmental health officer is the authority for your business if you are unsure what they want to see.

The paper diary refill problem

The FSA pack is free and valid. The diary covers a set number of weeks. After that you download extra sheets from the FSA site, photocopy them, or buy an SFBB diary refill 4 weekly. Common snags: the refill lives in the office, so Monday’s checks get written later; the review page is on the last sheet, so it gets skipped in week five; water and a lost folder wipe out the month you needed.

If you stay with it, print the next four weeks before you need them and keep the review page in sight.

What an inspector is looking for

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, officers score three areas under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: hygienic food handling, the physical condition of the premises, and confidence in management. The FSA sets this out on its food hygiene ratings page. Confidence in management includes whether you have a food safety system and whether you follow it.

A diary with daily checks, honest problems and a signed review every four weeks shows control. A diary that stops in March, or reviews that all say all fine in the same handwriting, does the opposite.

Nobody can promise you a rating. A complete SFBB diary does not guarantee a 5. The guide to how the food hygiene rating is scored sets out the three areas without pretending software can sit the inspection for you.

If you are in Scotland

Scotland does not use SFBB. Food Standards Scotland expects a HACCP-based system, and most small caterers use CookSafe. There is no SFBB 4-weekly review page. You still review procedures when something changes, and you still need records of checks. Reheating also differs: CookSafe uses 82°C, which is not the figure used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Use CookSafe if that is your pack, and ask your local officer if you are unsure.

Doing the same review without the refill

Five Star Diary follows the FSA’s SFBB format in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and CookSafe in Scotland. Staff scan a QR sticker on the fridge, type the temperature and sign with a PIN. A reading that is out of range cannot be saved until someone writes what they did. That daily record is what the 4-weekly review is supposed to look at.

The 4-weekly review is then assembled from those records: which days were done, which readings were red, which actions were logged. You still sign it. What you drop is the SFBB diary refill 4 weekly print run.

See how the diary and the review sit in the SFBB layout on the Five Star Diary features page. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. The FSA and your council do not approve apps, and we do not claim they do. What they look at is whether you have a system and whether you use it.

Complete this month’s Safer Food, Better Business 4 weekly review while the days are still in your head. Then set the next four weeks up on Five Star Diary so you are not chasing a refill on the morning of an inspection.