Hygiene and HACCP · EU · AT · DE

Corrective action

A corrective action is what you do when monitoring shows a deviation, such as too low a core temperature: restore control, assess and separate the affected food, and remove the cause. Article 5 of the EU Hygiene Regulation requires such actions to be set in advance. The European Commission recommends recording what was done, when and by whom.

Legal basis

EU — applies in Austria and Germany: Reg. (EC) 852/2004 Art. 5(2)(e): establish corrective actions for when a critical control point is not under control. Reg. 178/2002 Art. 19: withdrawal and recall when a food is not safe.12
EU — applies in Austria and Germany: According to the Commission’s guidance this includes restoring control, separating the affected products and deciding what happens to them, preventing a recurrence, and recording what was done, when and by whom.134
AT — Austria: § 21 LMSVG: take measures to remedy shortcomings or reduce risks. The WKO handbook gives examples such as reheating (guidance).567
DE — Germany: No separate provision. For food that may not be placed on the market, § 44 (4) LFGB also requires you to inform the authority.8

What the inspector wants to see

What happened at the last deviation, and where is it recorded?4
What happened to the affected food?34
Was the cause removed, or does the deviation recur?9
Are the actions for each critical control point set in advance?1

Common mistakes

Deviation entered, but no action noted.4
Only the equipment repaired, the food in the meantime not assessed.3
The same deviation keeps coming back, and nobody asks about the cause.49

Practise, read, print

The guide is in German for now.

Practise · 5 minDeviations: what first, what next GuideHACCP-Konzept erstellen – Aufbau und Vorlage

Sources

We read every source in the original on the date shown and checked it against the text: EU law in its German-language version, the links lead to the English one. All sources and what has changed (in German)

1Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, Art. 5(2)(e) · checked 23 September 2026
2Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law), Art. 19 · checked 23 September 2026
3Commission Notice 2022/C 355/01 on good hygiene practice and HACCP (guidance, not law), section 3 (definitions) · checked 23 September 2026
4Commission Notice 2022/C 355/01 on good hygiene practice and HACCP (guidance, not law), Annex II, point 9 (corrective actions) · checked 23 September 2026
5AT — applies in AustriaLebensmittelsicherheits- und Verbraucherschutzgesetz (LMSVG), the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Act, Austria, § 21 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
6AT — applies in AustriaAustrian Economic Chamber (WKO), handbook on hygiene in hospitality (as of July 2025), Austria, pp. 57–58 (HACCP principles, CCP) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
7AT — applies in AustriaAustrian Economic Chamber (WKO), handbook on hygiene in hospitality (as of July 2025), Austria, pp. 59–62 (documentation, corrective actions) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
8DE — applies in GermanyLebensmittel- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch (LFGB), the Food and Feed Code, Germany, § 44 (4) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
9Commission Notice 2022/C 355/01 on good hygiene practice and HACCP (guidance, not law), Annex I, point 4 (verification of good hygiene practice) · checked 23 September 2026

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