Deviation

A deviation is a departure from an established requirement, procedure, specification or limit. In food safety, it may occur when a monitoring result falls outside an established limit, a required procedure is missed or a control measure is not performed as specified.

Examples of deviations in a restaurant

• A food temperature is outside the operating limit established by the food-safety plan.
• A cooling or reheating process does not meet its required time and temperature criteria.
• A sanitizer solution is outside the concentration range specified by the product and sanitation procedure.
• A required cleaning, allergen-control or receiving check is missed.
• Equipment fails to maintain the required storage conditions.
• A product is prepared, labelled or stored contrary to its approved specification.

What to do when a deviation occurs

Take immediate action to control the situation and protect food and people. Identify the affected product or process, assess the risk, hold or discard food where required, and restore the control. Investigate the cause, assign corrective action and verify that the problem has been resolved. Follow the operation’s food-safety plan and the applicable local requirements; do not assume that reheating, recooling or relabelling automatically makes affected food acceptable.

Deviation in HACCP

In a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan, a deviation at a critical control point occurs when a critical limit is not met. The plan should specify how to control affected product, restore the process and prevent recurrence. Deviations can also occur outside critical control points when other procedures or specifications are not followed.

Deviation versus corrective action

The deviation is the event or failure to meet a requirement. Corrective action is the response intended to control the immediate problem, address its cause and prevent recurrence. The response should be documented according to the operation’s procedures.

Example: A hot-holding unit is found below the temperature required by the restaurant’s food-safety plan. The cook notifies the supervisor, identifies affected food, follows the product assessment procedure and records the event and corrective action.

Chef’s tip: Treat deviations as information about how the system is performing. Timely reporting allows the kitchen to correct a problem before it affects more food or guests.

Key distinction: A deviation is a departure from a requirement. A deviation log documents it, while a corrective action plan sets out how the underlying problem will be resolved and prevented from recurring.