Chilling and cold storage
Cold slows bacteria down; it does not kill them. Everything about chilling is buying time — which is why the temperatures, the loading and the labels all matter, and why the fridge log is one of the first things an inspector reads.
The numbers to know
- 8°C — the legal maximum for chilled food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Aim for 5°C or below.
- −18°C — frozen storage.
- 8°C to 63°C — the danger zone where bacteria multiply fastest. Time in it should be as short as possible.
Loading a fridge properly
- Raw meat, poultry and fish on the bottom; ready-to-eat above (see the cross-contamination module).
- Everything covered and labelled. Do not block air vents or overfill — cold air has to circulate.
- Hot food is cooled first (quickly — within about 90 minutes), never put in hot: it warms everything around it.
Dates and rotation
Use by is a safety limit — food past it goes in the bin, however it looks or smells. Best before is about quality, not safety. Opened and prepped food gets a day label; follow your kitchen's day-dot rules and rotate stock so the oldest is used first.
Defrosting
Defrost in the fridge (planned ahead, on the bottom shelf, in a container), not on the side overnight — the outside spends hours in the danger zone while the middle thaws. Food defrosted in a microwave is cooked immediately.
When a fridge reads high
Tell whoever does the checks straight away. Was the door open? Re-check in 30 minutes. Still high — move stock to another unit and flag it. High-risk food that has been above 8°C for more than 4 hours is not safe to keep. Whatever happened, it gets written down with the action taken.
Check your understanding
A tray of cooked rice is still steaming. Straight in the fridge?
No — cool it quickly first (shallow trays help), aiming for within about 90 minutes, then refrigerate. Hot food in the fridge warms everything else up.
The ham is one day past its use-by date but smells fine. Can it go in a sandwich?
No. Use-by is a safety limit — listeria has no smell. Bin it.
The display fridge reads 11°C at the afternoon check. What is the first thing you do?
Report it and re-check after 30 minutes (was the door just open?). If it is genuinely warm, move the stock, assess how long it has been over 8°C, and record the reading and the action.
Doing this as part of your job?
If your workplace uses Localyn, ask your manager for your personal training link — completing modules through it records the training in the store's food safety evidence automatically. Managers: issue links from the Training page in your dashboard.
See it working before you sign up
Walk through a sample store with realistic demo data — no login required — or start a 1-month free trial and set up your first site with Localyn.