Cooling cooked food safely: the rules for UK kitchens
The danger zone is 8°C to 63°C — the range where bacteria multiply fastest. Cooking gets food out of it; cooling drags food back through it. That is why cooling is one of the most scrutinised safe methods in the SFBB pack, and one of the most commonly fudged records.
How fast is fast enough?
UK guidance is to cool cooked food as quickly as possible and get it into the fridge — the SFBB safe method works to an aim of cooling within 90 minutes before refrigerating. Food left to "cool overnight on the side" is the classic failure: it spends hours in the danger zone and there is no record of when it actually went in the fridge.
Practical ways to hit 90 minutes
- Divide it. Split large pots into shallow trays — a 10cm-deep stockpot can take all night; 3cm trays cool in under an hour.
- Add cold. Where the recipe allows, finish with cold water or ice as part of the liquid, or sit the container in an ice bath and stir.
- Move air. A cool, ventilated area beats a warm kitchen corner; never stack hot containers.
- Cover loosely, then seal. Protect from contamination while cooling, seal and label once chilled.
What to record
For items you cool regularly (rice, sauces, roasted meats, stocks), record what was cooled, when cooking finished, when it went into the fridge, and who did it. If something went over the target — a busy service, a forgotten tray — record the decision you made: used immediately, or discarded. An honest cooling log with the occasional recorded failure reads as a working system; a perfect one reads as fiction. See what inspectors look for in records.
Reheating rule of thumb: reheat to steaming hot (75°C+), once only — never reheat food more than once.
Put this into practice with Localyn
Localyn gives cafes, restaurants and takeaways a digital SFBB diary, temperature and cleaning records, allergen management and inspection-ready reports — all in one place.