Part of the Food Safety Control track. Lesson 10 of 10.
Where in the shift: afterward.
Prerequisites: Modules 2, 51.
The sequence
Take it seriously.
Preserve what can be preserved.
Reconstruct the product's history.
Notify whoever must be notified.
And find the mechanism rather than the person.
The decisions
Whether to assume the records are false. No — start by assuming they are all true and see whether the failure is still possible, per Module 2's worked example.
Because if it is, falsification is the wrong investigation — and a complete set of correct records can document a failure rather than prevent it, if the records are measuring the wrong thing.
What to ask of each record. Not "is this true" but "what does this actually prove." A cooling log proves that a location in a container reached temperature. It does not prove the product did.
And who to notify. Reporting obligations are set by the local health authority and they are not discretionary.
What you are reading
Each record, and what it measures.
And the gaps — the time before the logs started, which appears nowhere.
What goes wrong here
The investigation aimed at a person.
Records accepted at face value rather than examined for what they prove.
And notification not made.
Verification
A written reconstruction of the product's full history.
The boundary
Illness complaint reporting and investigation obligations are set by the local health authority. Legal exposure belongs with a licensed attorney, and nothing here is legal advice.