Food premises
Back to Food safety index
Food safety
Temperature control |
Storage time and temperature for perishable food |
Reheating and cooling
Harmful bacteria are present in foods and can quickly multiply if left out at room temperature. The "danger zone" is
between 4ºC and 60ºC. To control the rate which bacteria multiplies, food must be kept frozen, chilled or hot (i.e. out of
the danger zone).
Temperature control
Refrigeration
- place perishable food in the refrigerator for storage immediately after delivery
- left-over food must be refrigerated as soon as possible
- store raw meat (including poultry) in a separate refrigerator, otherwise store at the bottom of the refrigerator so it cannot
drip or spill onto other food
- stacked food must be covered at all times
- do not cover food with tea towels
- ensure good stock rotation
- do not overload the refrigerator. The air inside must be able to circulate
- refrigerator temperature should be at or below 4ºC
- freezer temperatures should be below -18ºC
- defrost food in the refrigerator
- keep the refrigerator clean and defrost regularly.
Remember
- refrigeration and freezing does not destroy germs
- food still "goes off" in the refrigerator
- refrigeration and freezing is just a temporary safe storage method.
Storage time and temperature for perishable food
Food should not be left out at room temperature for more than two hours including preparation time.
| Perishable food |
Storage
temperature ºC |
Storage time |
| Meat (fresh) |
Roasts |
2° |
2-3 days 1 day |
| Mince |
2° |
1 day |
| Meat (cooked) |
4° |
2-3 days |
| Chicken pieces (fresh) |
2° |
2-3days |
| Fish |
2° |
1 day |
| Dairy foods |
General |
2° - 6° |
Use by date |
| Soft cheese |
2° - 6° |
3 weeks |
| Hard cheese |
7° |
3 weeks |
| Margarine |
7° |
6 weeks |
| Precooked foods and leftovers |
Eggs and fish |
7° |
1 day |
| Rice and meat |
7° |
1-2 days |
| Frozen foods |
-18º |
3 months or as directed on packaging |
Cooking, cooling, reheating and hot holding
- cook food to a minimum of 83ºC core centre temperature
- cooked food must be rapidly cooled and then refrigerated within 1 hour. Use shallow containers with food about one inch in
thickness and stir to aid cooling or place food container in a clean sink with cold water and a sufficient amount of ice
- food being hot held for service must be kept in pre-heated equipment above 60ēC. If 60ēC cannot be maintained the food must
be either reheated within in 2 hours or disposed of
- reheat food to a minimum of 83ēC core temperature. Do not reheat again
- it is advisable to conduct temperature checks of equipment using
thermometers and a temperature probe for food and record the results.
Use the templates below to monitor food and refrigerator temperatures:
Cold food record (82kb) PDF
Hot holding record (59kb) PDF
Off site temperature record (61kb) PDF
Hot temperature record (64kb) PDF
All in one record (74kb) PDF
Delivery record (62kb) PDF
To view PDFs download Acrobat Reader from the
Adobe website.
Further help on how
to view PDFs.
