System Hub
What are digital SFBB records in the UK?
Digital SFBB records are the Safer Food, Better Business diary kept electronically instead of on paper. The Food Standards Agency says completed diary pages can be stored electronically or printed. Officers may still ask to see the diary and the pack, so records must be complete, dated, and accessible on site.
Last reviewed: . Written by Oriel Technology Ltd.
What are digital SFBB records?
Digital SFBB records are the diary and safe methods from the Food Standards Agency’s Safer Food, Better Business pack, stored electronically. They are not a different food hygiene system. They are the same opening checks, temperatures, deliveries, 4 Cs, and 4-weekly review — with a timestamp and a name on the line instead of a ring binder.
Most UK restaurants, pubs, and cafés already know the paper pack. The gap is not the methods. It is the habit of catching up the diary at 11pm, leaving it in the office, or being unable to read it when an inspector arrives.
Does the FSA allow an electronic SFBB diary?
Yes, in England and Wales. FSA lists an electronic diary as one of two official options.
Store all your completed diary pages safely until your next visit from a local authority food safety officer. This can be done electronically or with printed copies. They may want to look at your diary pages as well as your SFBB pack.
Safer food, better business (SFBB), Food Standards Agency / GOV.UK, 5 June 2025. Applies to England and Wales.
The same page lists the two options: keep an electronic diary — download the diary pages onto your device, fill them in, and store them electronically — or print the diary and fill it in. That is not an “approved app” scheme. The test is still complete, dated, accessible records.
What digital SFBB records need to cover
The same as the paper pack: opening and closing checks, temperatures, deliveries, the 4 Cs, management methods, and the 4-weekly review.
- Opening and closing checks
- Fridge, freezer, cooking, and hot-holding temperatures
- Delivery acceptance
- The 4 Cs: cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling, cooking
- Management methods, including staff training and the 4-weekly review
The 4-weekly review is how you look back at previous weeks and spot persistent problems. Skipping it is a common gap in both paper and digital diaries.
Officers may want the safe methods as well as the diary. A temperature log on its own is not a food safety management system.
Paper vs digital SFBB records
Paper is legal. It fails when the pack is filled in at close, left in the office, or unreadable.
| Paper pack | Digital SFBB records | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal in the UK? | Yes | Yes, if complete, dated, and accessible |
| FSA diary option (England and Wales) | Print and fill in | Electronic diary |
| Timestamp / name on the line | Handwritten, often at close | Attributed at the time of the check |
| Find a date during a visit | Flip the binder | Filter the diary |
| 4-weekly review | Easy to skip | Same requirement; easier to see gaps |
| Best for | Quiet sites that never lose the pack | Busy kitchens where the diary used to wait until 11pm |
Bottom line: Format is not the test. Completeness, dates, and access are. Clipboards go missing. Spreadsheets have no timestamps and no name on the line. Managers find those gaps after close, not during the shift. Longer comparison: System Hub vs the paper SFBB pack.
How to keep digital SFBB records inspection-ready
Complete checks during the shift, keep a name on the line, review every four weeks, and keep the device unlockable on site.
- Do the checks during the shift. Opening checks, temps, and deliveries written up from memory at close are the records that fail under questions.
- Put a name on the line. An officer needs to see who completed the check, not a blank that was filled later.
- Run the 4-weekly review. Look back, note persistent problems, sign it off. Same pack logic as paper.
- Keep the diary on a device a manager can unlock. If you cannot open it when the EHO arrives, it is not accessible.
- Keep the safe methods with the diary. Officers may ask for both.
Read will an EHO accept digital food safety records for the hand-over on the day. We do not claim a regulator endorsement.
England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
SFBB is the FSA pack for England and Wales. Scotland typically uses CookSafe (Food Standards Scotland). Northern Ireland uses Safe Catering.
The legal duty is the same shape everywhere: put in place, implement, and maintain food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, and show evidence you follow them. Retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 Article 5 is the HACCP requirement. The format of the diary is not specified as paper.
If you are not on SFBB, a digital diary still has to map to the methods you actually use. Do not import an England pack into a CookSafe or Safe Catering kitchen and call it done.
Officers are local. City pages name the council (or shared service), the FSA register count, and how kitchens there actually run — London boroughs, Glasgow CookSafe, Cardiff Shared Regulatory Services — not a city-name swap.
How System Hub maps to the SFBB pack
Food Safety is the same SFBB tasks on a phone during the shift — not a generic checklist. Daily checks, the digital diary, and the 4-weekly SFBB Review sit in one account.
- Opening, closing, temps, and deliveries during service
- Alerts when a check is skipped
- Manager sign-off and a searchable history
- 4-weekly review across the 4 Cs plus Management
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