Ontario Meat Plant Process Controls and Temperatures: Limits, Readings, and Follow-Up

Temperature and other process readings confuse many operators because two different ideas get mixed together: statutory requirements in O. Reg. 31/05 and plant-defined operational limits in the written manufacturing control program. Good records keep those distinctions visible.

Regulatory temperatures vs process controls

• Regulatory: O. Reg. 31/05 s. 30 sets refrigeration/freezing equipment obligations; s. 47(6.1) requires recording those temperatures during daily pre-op.
• Plant-defined: manufacturing or process controls in the written program — cooking times, cooler monitoring between pre-ops, pH checks, sanitizer concentration, or other metrics the plant monitors on a defined frequency.
• Software should record readings against the plant's configured limits while preserving which regulatory requirement, if any, a control supports.

Reading → outside limit → response → retest → corrective action

1. Record the reading at the time it is taken on the operating day.
2. Mark deviation when the reading is outside the plant's configured limit (or regulatory threshold where directly monitored).
3. Document immediate response — hold product, adjust equipment, re-clean, notify supervisor.
4. Retest or re-read when the program requires verification before resuming.
5. Open corrective action when the deviation indicates a systemic issue requiring assigned follow-up and separate verification.
6. Preserve the original reading; do not silently overwrite the first value.

What an inspector may ask for later

Pre-op temperature records, process control logs for the requested period, evidence of response and retest when readings were outside limits, corrective actions with verification, and the written program showing how limits were established.