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1. What temperature should a fridge be in a food business?

A food business should normally set its refrigerators at 5°C or below.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, chilled food that requires temperature control generally needs to be kept at 8°C or below.

Setting the refrigerator at 5°C or below gives the business a safety margin. It allows for normal temperature changes caused by doors being opened, new stock being added and refrigeration equipment cycling on and off.

Why is 5°C recommended if the legal limit is 8°C?

The temperature displayed on a refrigerator isn’t necessarily the exact temperature of the food inside it.

Temperatures can vary considerably within the same refrigerator.

For example:

• food near the door may be warmer
• an overloaded refrigerator may have poor air circulation
• recently delivered food may temporarily increase the temperature
• repeatedly opening the door can increase the internal temperature
• refrigeration equipment may operate differently during defrost cycles

Running a fridge at around 5°C or below helps make sure the food itself remains within safe limits.

How should a fridge temperature be checked?

Businesses can monitor refrigeration using:

• the refrigerator’s digital display
• an internal refrigerator thermometer
• a temperature probe placed between food packs
• an automated temperature monitoring system

The display on the refrigerator shouldn’t be relied upon indefinitely without checking that it’s accurate.

A useful verification check is to measure the temperature between chilled food packs using a clean, disinfected temperature probe.

What should you do if the fridge is above 8°C?

Don’t automatically throw everything away based on one air-temperature reading.

First:

1. Check whether the door has recently been open.
2. Check whether warm stock has recently been added.
3. Take another temperature reading.
4. Check the actual temperature of the food where appropriate.
5. Move food to another working refrigerator if necessary.
6. Report or investigate the refrigeration fault.
7. Record the problem and the corrective action taken.

The important point is establishing whether the food has remained safe, rather than simply looking at one refrigerator display.

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2. What temperature should cooked food reach in the UK?

Standard UK food safety guidance is to cook food so that its centre reaches 70°C for at least 2 minutes.

This combination of temperature and time is designed to reduce harmful bacteria to a safe level.

Other equivalent time and temperature combinations can also be used.

Examples include:

The higher the temperature, the less time is needed to achieve an equivalent level of bacterial reduction.

Where should you take the temperature?

Check the centre or thickest part of the food.

This is normally the part that takes longest to heat.

For large dishes or batches, it may be appropriate to test more than one location because the temperature may not be consistent throughout the food.

Which foods need particular care?

Foods that generally need to be thoroughly cooked include:

• chicken and other poultry
• pork
• minced meat products
• burgers
• sausages
• kebabs
• rolled meat joints
• offal
• foods containing raw egg where the cooking process is relied upon for safety

Whole cuts of beef or lamb, such as steaks, can be treated differently because contamination is normally associated with the surface rather than the centre.

Minced meat is different. Grinding or mincing can transfer bacteria from the surface throughout the product, so burgers and similar minced products normally need to be cooked thoroughly.

Do you have to probe every item?

Not necessarily.

A business should have a monitoring method that gives confidence that its cooking process consistently produces safe food.

For example, a business might establish that a particular product cooked using a defined oven temperature and cooking time consistently reaches the required safe temperature.

Periodic probe checks can then verify that the cooking method is still working.

The monitoring system should reflect the food, equipment, process and level of risk involved.

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3. What temperature should food be reheated to?

Reheated food should be steaming hot throughout, not simply warmed.

Food Standards Agency guidance says reheating means cooking food again. The whole portion needs to be heated properly, including the centre.

For many food businesses, a practical target such as 75°C for at least 30 seconds or an equivalent validated time and temperature combination provides a clear measurable control.

Is there a legal reheating temperature?

The rules aren’t identical throughout the UK.

In Scotland, commercially reheated food generally needs to reach at least 82°C, subject to certain exceptions where reaching that temperature would damage the quality of the food.

There isn’t an equivalent specific statutory 82°C reheating requirement across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Businesses should therefore follow the requirements that apply in their own jurisdiction and the limits established in their food safety management system.

Can food be reheated more than once?

Food Standards Agency guidance is that food should normally be reheated only once.

Repeated cycles of:

• cooling
• storing
• reheating
• cooling again

increase the opportunity for bacteria to grow if temperature control isn’t properly maintained.

Good practice is therefore:

cook → cool safely → refrigerate → reheat once → serve

What about microwave reheating?

Microwaves can produce uneven heating.

A dish may be extremely hot around its edges while remaining much cooler in the centre.

When reheating food in a microwave:

• follow the manufacturer’s instructions
• stir food where possible
• rotate or turn food
• allow any specified standing time
• check the centre of the food
• check more than one area for larger portions

Never assume that because part of the food is bubbling or steaming, the entire portion has reached a safe temperature.

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4. What is the food temperature danger zone?

The term temperature danger zone describes the temperature range where harmful bacteria can multiply more readily.

UK food safety guidance commonly refers to the range between approximately:

8°C and 63°C

This is why temperature-controlled food is generally either:

• kept chilled at 8°C or below, or
• kept hot at 63°C or above

The aim is to minimise the amount of time potentially hazardous food spends between those temperatures.

Does food immediately become unsafe between 8°C and 63°C?

No.

Temperature and time work together.

Food doesn’t suddenly become dangerous as soon as it reaches 9°C or drops below 63°C.

The concern is how long food remains within conditions that allow bacteria to multiply.

This is why food safety legislation allows some limited periods outside normal temperature control under defined circumstances.

What about cold food on display?

Certain chilled foods can be displayed outside temperature control for a limited period.

In appropriate circumstances, chilled food may be displayed above 8°C for one period of up to four hours.

After that period, the food must be dealt with appropriately and shouldn’t simply remain on display indefinitely.

Businesses using this provision need a reliable method of knowing when the food was removed from temperature control.

What about preparing food at room temperature?

Some preparation inevitably happens outside a refrigerator.

The principle is to keep that period as short as reasonably possible.

For example, don’t remove an entire day’s supply of sandwich fillings from refrigeration if only a small amount is needed for immediate preparation.

Take out what you need, prepare the food and return temperature-sensitive ingredients to refrigerated storage promptly.

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5. What temperature should hot food be held at?

Hot food that isn’t being served immediately should normally be kept at 63°C or above.

This applies to foods being kept hot for service, such as:

• curries
• soups
• sauces
• cooked meats
• cooked vegetables
• rice dishes
• buffet foods
• food in hot cupboards or bain-maries

Can hot food fall below 63°C?

There is a limited allowance for hot food to be kept below 63°C for one period of up to two hours.

After that, it should generally be:

• reheated appropriately and returned to hot holding
• cooled safely and refrigerated, where appropriate
• discarded

The two-hour allowance shouldn’t become the normal method of holding food.

Normal hot holding should maintain food at 63°C or above.

Can a bain-marie be used to reheat food?

Generally, no.

Hot-holding equipment is designed to maintain temperature, not to bring cold food rapidly up to a safe reheating temperature.

Food should normally be properly cooked or reheated first and then transferred to preheated hot-holding equipment.

Putting cold or lukewarm food into a bain-marie can result in the food spending too long at temperatures where bacteria can multiply.

What if food quality suffers at 63°C?

Don’t reduce the temperature to protect quality.

Instead consider reducing the amount of time the food is held.

For example:

• cook smaller batches
• replenish dishes more frequently
• reduce the amount displayed
• adjust production around demand

This protects both food quality and food safety.

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6. How often should food temperatures be recorded?

There isn’t one universal rule saying that every food business must write down every food temperature at a particular frequency.

The monitoring and records required should be appropriate to the size, nature and risks of the business, and should match its documented food safety management procedures.

For example, Food Standards Agency Safer Food Better Business guidance recommends that fridges and chilled display equipment are checked at least once a day, beginning with opening checks.

A busier or higher-risk operation may decide that more frequent monitoring is necessary.

What temperatures might a food business record?

Depending on the operation, records could include:

• refrigerators
• freezers
• cooking
• reheating
• hot holding
• cooling
• chilled displays
• incoming deliveries
• dishwasher temperatures
• food during transport

You don’t necessarily need to record every one of these if it isn’t relevant to your business.

A small café has different risks from a hospital kitchen or large-scale food manufacturer.

Why keep temperature records?

A temperature record isn’t just a number.

It should help demonstrate that the business has identified important food safety controls and is monitoring them properly.

For example:

Fridge 1: 4°C

shows that the refrigerator was operating normally.

But if the record says:

Fridge 1: 10°C

the important information is what happened next.

A useful record could show:

Fridge recorded at 10°C. Food checked and remained below 8°C. Stock transferred to Fridge 2 and maintenance reported.

That tells a much more useful food safety story.

Corrective actions matter

One of the most common weaknesses in food safety records is recording a failed temperature without recording what was done about it.

If a limit isn’t met, record the corrective action.

Examples include:

• continuing cooking until the required temperature is achieved
• reheating food again before service
• transferring stock to another refrigerator
• adjusting refrigeration equipment
• rejecting a delivery
• disposing of unsafe food
• reporting faulty equipment
• checking the temperature probe

The purpose of monitoring isn’t simply to create paperwork. It’s to identify when a control isn’t working and allow the business to act.

Can temperature records be digital?

Yes.

Food safety records don’t have to be kept on paper simply because they traditionally have been.

A digital food safety system can be used to record information such as:

• cooking temperatures
• chilled temperatures
• hot holding
• reheating
• cooling
• deliveries
• corrective actions
• probe calibration

The important point is that the records accurately reflect what the business actually does and are available when they’re needed.

Digital records can also make it easier to identify missed checks, review previous results and show an Environmental Health Officer how food safety controls are being monitored.

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