An ice cream maker that buys a pasteurized base from a dairy has handed the biggest hazard, raw milk, to the dairy. What stays in its own kitchen is everything added after pasteurization and everything the ice cream touches: the base's temperature when it arrives, fresh fruit swirled in without another heat step, cookie dough and nuts that have to be made safe before they arrive, the batch freezer where Listeria likes cold, wet corners, and the lid on each pint. In the example below, a small-batch maker's plan has three critical control points, receiving the base, cooking the strawberry swirl and labeling, with Listeria handled by sanitation and swabs, and a delivery that arrives at 45°F is turned back. Below is the hazard analysis, the plan, the log, and a free worksheet.
The short version
- Buying a pasteurized base moves pasteurization to the dairy; making your own mix brings it back as a CCP.
- Receiving the base cold: CCP 1, 41°F or below.
- Fruit added after pasteurization: CCP 2, cooked to 165°F, or bought already treated.
- Cookie dough and nuts: heat-treated flour, pasteurized eggs and pasteurized nuts, with the supplier's certificate.
- Listeria in the batch freezer and the room: daily cleaning and sanitizing, swabs, wet and dry areas kept apart.
- Lids and labels: CCP 3, with plain flavors run before nut flavors.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's readings on its batch record, and the base and add-in lots it used. More below.
The rules behind it
Milk products sold across state lines in final package form have to be pasteurized or made from pasteurized ingredients (21 CFR 1240.61), and ice cream is made from a pasteurized mix. A registered maker that isn't exempt also needs a written food safety plan (21 CFR 117.126), with sanitation controls against environmental pathogens and food allergen controls among the preventive controls the rule names (21 CFR 117.135(c)). Many states license frozen dessert makers through their dairy programs, so the state is the first call. What a full food safety plan holds is in what is a food safety plan. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: the hazard analysis
Ironwood Pint Co., a made-up ice cream maker in Birmingham, Alabama, I use in these examples, buys a pasteurized base from an Alabama dairy and makes pints for grocers, scoops for its window, and tubs for restaurants:
| Step | Hazard | Reasonably likely? | Preventive measure | CCP? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving pasteurized base | B: growth if it arrives warm | Yes | 41°F or below on arrival | CCP 1 |
| Receiving cookie dough, pecans, cocoa | B: Salmonella, E. coli in raw dough or nuts | Yes | Heat-treated flour, pasteurized eggs and pecans; certificate each lot | No |
| Cold storage of base | B: growth if warm | No | Walk-in log | No |
| Roasting strawberries for the swirl | B: viruses and bacteria on fresh berries | Yes | Cook to 165°F | CCP 2 |
| Churning | B: Listeria from equipment and room | Yes | Daily clean and sanitize; swabs | No |
| Adding inclusions | C: pecans, wheat, egg, soy in the wrong flavor | Yes | Plain flavors first; full clean after nut flavors | No |
| Packing and labeling | C: undeclared allergens | Yes | Lid and label checked | CCP 3 |
| Hardening and storage | B: none reasonably likely | No | 0°F or colder, logged | No |
Listeria is a known hazard in ice cream making, and it isn't a CCP here because there's no single step where it's killed after churning: it's kept out by cleaning and sanitizing the batch freezer every day, swabbing drains, floors and the freezer's surroundings on a schedule, and keeping wet cleaning away from open product. How Ironwood plans its year is in ice cream business plan.
The plan
| CCP | Critical limit | Monitoring | Corrective action | Verification | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Receiving base | 41°F or below on arrival | Probe one jug from each delivery | Reject the delivery; tell the dairy | Thermometer checked daily; log reviewed weekly | Receiving record |
| 2 Strawberry swirl | Berries reach 165°F | Probe the pot before it comes off the heat | Keep cooking and probe again | Records reviewed daily | Batch record |
| 3 Labeling | Lid and label match the flavor and its allergens | One pint per lot | Hold, relabel, find the cause | Weekly review | Packing record |
A week's log
| Date | Lot | CCP | Reading | Within? | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 6 | BASE-1006 | 1 Receiving | 38°F | Yes | |
| Oct 6 | SW-1006 | 2 Swirl | 168°F | Yes | |
| Oct 6 | IP-1006-S strawberry | 3 Labeling | Correct | Yes | |
| Oct 9 | BASE-1009 | 1 Receiving | 45°F | No | Delivery rejected; dairy called |
| Oct 9 | BASE-1009B | 1 Receiving | 37°F | Yes | Replacement at 11:00 |
| Oct 9 | IP-1009-P butter pecan | 3 Labeling | Correct | Yes |
On October 9 the base arrived at 45°F. It went back on the truck, the dairy sent a replacement that arrived at 37°F, and the day's churning started late instead of with a warm base. Temperature logs for the walk-in and freezers are in temperature log template.
Get the worksheet
Download the ice cream HACCP worksheet. Three sheets: the hazard analysis, step by step; the plan, one row for each critical control point; and a monitoring log, where each reading is checked against its limit and a reading outside it is flagged. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A log sheet records each reading. It can't say which pints used the cookie dough lot a supplier recalls next month, which grocers got the strawberry pints from a given day, or whether the base that came back on October 9 was ever used in anything.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's readings on its batch record, and the base and add-in lots it used.
Receiving with its checks. Each delivery of base is received with the dairy's lot, and fields of your own on the receipt hold the temperature and who probed it; the cookie dough and pecans arrive with their lots and certificate numbers.
Batches with their lots. A batch of strawberry ice cream records which lots of base, berries and sugar it consumed, automatically, with the swirl's cook temperature and the label check on the batch record, and gets a lot of its own.
From pint to grocer. Each order records the lots each customer got as it ships, so one recall report shows which grocers and restaurants have a lot, and what's still in your freezers.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Base temperature on arrival | A receiving log | A field on the receipt |
| Which cookie dough lot went in | Not recorded | Recorded automatically |
| The swirl's cook temperature | A note | A field on the batch record |
| Which grocers got a lot | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Batches, receipts and batch records with fields of your own, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.