UKAS accredited calibration laboratory No. 10723

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For food manufacturers, cold stores and distributors

What BRCGS expects of temperature control

BRCGS Food Safety and Storage and Distribution both expect temperature to be controlled to limits your HACCP or risk assessment sets, monitored and recorded, alarmed where a failure would put product at risk, and acted on with a recorded corrective action when it goes wrong. At audit, that means showing the limits, the readings, the calibration behind them and what you did about every excursion.

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Updated 19 October 2026Reviewed by Jake Farrow, Managing Director

At a glance

What it asks

The rule in pictures

What the auditor wants to see when a store goes out of range

An excursion isn't a failed audit. An excursion with no record of what happened next usually is a finding.

Chill store overnightIllustrative
Chill store 2limits 0 to 5 °C

Defrost overran at 03:50: alarm raised, engineer called, product assessed and corrective action recorded.

An illustrative trace, with limits of 0 to 5 °C set by a site's HACCP.

From reading to sign-off
  1. RecordedEvery reading, automatically
  2. AlarmedLimits per store, reaching a person
  3. Corrective actionCause fixed, product assessed
  4. Signed offReviewed by a named manager

HACCP: Food Safety 2.9 to 2.11

Limits: set by your HACCP, not by the fridge

What it says

Both standards are built on HACCP or an equivalent risk assessment. Where temperature controls a hazard, it is identified as a control point with a measurable, validated limit (Food Safety 2.9), a monitoring method that detects loss of control in time to act (2.10), and a documented corrective action, including what happens to product made while out of control (2.11.1). In England, the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations 2013 (Schedule 4) set the legal minimum standard: food that needs temperature control to stay safe is kept at 8 °C or below, with limited exceptions.

What it means on site

Limits are often whatever the refrigeration engineer set years ago. The auditor will ask where 5 °C came from, and the answer needs to be in your HACCP, alongside the action if it's exceeded.

How to evidence it

  • The HACCP plan showing temperature control points, limits and corrective actions
  • The specification or customer requirement behind each limit
  • Validation that the limit controls the hazard

Food Safety 4.15.3, 4.16.3, 6.1.5; S&D 7.3, 5.4

Monitoring: every store, every vehicle

What it says

Where temperature control is required, storage holds product within specification, with temperature recording equipment and suitable alarms on every store, or recorded manual checks, typically at least every 4 hours or often enough to act before product goes out of limits (Food Safety 4.15.3; Storage and Distribution 7.3.2). Temperature distribution in cold stores and freezers is validated and verified at a frequency based on risk (Food Safety 6.1.5; S&D 7.3.7), which in practice means mapping. In transport, product is held within specification at minimum and maximum load, shown by data loggers or by records of refrigeration operation (Food Safety 4.16.3); S&D 5.4 adds vehicle validation, automatic load-space recording and an alert to the driver.

What it means on site

Paper checks twice a day leave the night uncovered, and defrost cycles are a frequent source of overnight excursions. Vehicles are often on a separate system, or the records stop at the loading bay.

How to evidence it

  • Temperature records for each chilled and frozen store and each vehicle
  • Alarm limits and who the alarms go to, in and out of hours
  • Evidence alarms are tested and that someone responded
  • Mapping or a study showing where in the store the probes sit and why

Food Safety 6.4; S&D 6.3

Calibration: devices you can trust

What it says

Measuring and monitoring devices used for food safety, including temperature probes, loggers and sensors, are listed with their location, ID and calibration due date, checked at a predetermined, risk-based frequency and traceable to a recognised national or international standard (Food Safety 6.4.1 and 6.4.2 say where possible; reference equipment always, 6.4.3; S&D 6.3.3 for devices measuring product safety, legality and quality). Where a device is found out of limits, the action is recorded and at-risk product is not offered for sale (Food Safety 6.4.4); S&D 6.3.5 also has the product owner told. Good practice, rather than the standard's wording, is to assess the product measured since the last good check.

What it means on site

Hand-held probes are usually on the calibration list; the fixed sensors in cold stores are often missed. A sensor that has drifted by a degree can make a store look compliant when it isn't.

How to evidence it

  • A list of temperature measuring devices with identifiers and calibration due dates
  • Calibration certificates showing traceability
  • What was done when a device was found out of tolerance

Food Safety 2.11, 3.3, 6.1.6; S&D 3.1.3, 7.3.5

Corrective action: the record that closes the loop

What it says

When monitoring shows a control point is out of limit, the standards expect the corrective action in your HACCP to be taken and recorded, the affected product identified and its safety assessed before release (Food Safety 2.11.1 and 6.1.6; in a store, S&D 7.3.5 with the product owner), and the cause investigated so it doesn't recur. Records are legible and genuine, CCP records are verified by an authorised person (Food Safety 2.10.2), and records are kept for a defined period: at least shelf life plus 12 months under Food Safety 3.3.2, and never less than 1 year under S&D 3.1.3.1.

What it means on site

The alarm was answered and the door closed, but nobody wrote down which product was in the store or who decided it was safe. That missing decision is what the auditor picks up.

How to evidence it

  • An excursion record with start, peak, duration and response
  • The product affected and the decision on it, with who made it
  • Root cause and the action to prevent a repeat
  • Sign-off by a named manager, and a review of trends

In the inspector's words

Questions to be ready for

The kind of questions an inspector, assessor or auditor puts. If you can answer each with a record, you're ready.

  1. “Where does this temperature limit come from?”
  2. “Show me the records for this chill store for last week, including overnight.”
  3. “Who gets the alarm at 3am, and how do you know they got it?”
  4. “When was this sensor last calibrated? Is this the certificate?”
  5. “Talk me through your last temperature excursion. What happened to the product?”
  6. “Who reviews these records and signs them off?”

Where JTF fits

Where JTF fits

We monitor chill and frozen stores and vehicles for food manufacturers and distributors, including Nestlé UK & IRE, whose UK warehouse runs at 99% optimal temperature performance, and a 25-site food distributor. Sematics, our monitoring platform, records every reading, sends alarms that reach a person, and keeps the corrective action and sign-off on the same record. Every sensor we supply comes with calibration: traceable to national standards as standard, or UKAS accredited where you need it (temperature in our own UKAS accredited calibration laboratory No. 10723; other parameters through accredited partners).

The 20-minute compliance check

See your own gaps, in writing

A free call with one of our specialists, then a branded report of what an inspector would find, yours to keep. This is an example.

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Example reportExample report: BRCGSA food cold store (fictional)Download the PDF
Example report: BRCGS
Page 1 of the example report: brcgsPage 2 of the example report: brcgsPage 3 of the example report: brcgs

Related

Keep reading

Questions

Common questions

Does BRCGS require automated temperature monitoring?

Not for storage. Food Safety 4.15.3 and Storage and Distribution 7.3.2 accept recording equipment with suitable alarms, or recorded manual checks typically every 4 hours or often enough to intervene in time. For vehicles, S&D 5.4.2 expects automatic recording, with manual checks only where there is no such equipment. Many sites find out-of-hours alarms are the only practical way to cover nights and weekends.

What temperature should a chill store be?

Whatever your HACCP and customer specifications set. The legal ceiling in England is 8 °C for food that needs chilling; most chill stores work to a tighter limit, such as 5 °C.

Do temperature sensors need UKAS calibration for BRCGS?

No. BRCGS asks for checks traceable to a recognised national or international standard (Food Safety 6.4; S&D 6.3), not for accreditation. An accredited certificate is the simplest way to show that; it isn't the only way.

Is a temperature excursion an automatic non-conformity at audit?

Not on its own. Auditors look for what you did: the corrective action, the decision on the product, the root cause and the sign-off. A missing record is more likely to be raised than the excursion itself.

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Sources

  1. BRCGS Food Safety (Issue 9) Standard
  2. BRCGS Storage and Distribution (Issue 4) Standard
  3. BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety, Issue 9
  4. The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, Schedule 4 (temperature control)
  5. Food Standards Agency: chilling (food hygiene for businesses)

This summary isn't official guidance. The source documents are what an inspector works from.

20-minute compliance check

How would you answer an inspector on temperature?

In 20 minutes we go through mapping, monitoring, alarms, calibration and excursions with you. You get the gaps in writing. No product tour.

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