Keep Your Food at the Appropriate Temperatures (2024)

FAQs

Keep Your Food at the Appropriate Temperatures? ›

Keep food hot (140°F (60°C) or above) after cooking: If you're not serving food right after cooking, keep it out of the temperature danger zone (between 40°F (4°C) - 140°F (60°C)) where germs grow rapidly by using a heat source like a chafing dish, warming tray, or slow cooker.

Also, when putting food away, don't crowd the refrigerator or freezer so tightly that air can't circulate. Keep your appliances at the proper temperatures. Keep the refrigerator temperature at or below 40° F (4° C).

For safety, perishable foods must be held at proper cold temperatures to inhibit bacterial growth or cooked to temperatures high enough to kill harmful microorganisms.

Keep high-risk food at 5 °C or below or above 60 °C to avoid the temperature danger zone and food poisoning. Store raw foods below cooked foods. Store food in suitable, covered containers. Avoid refreezing thawed foods.

Foods kept in cold holding must stay at or below 41°F at all times. Foods that fall into the “Danger Zone” must be thrown away. If the temperature of food falls into the “Danger Zone”, throw away the food. Germs grow quickly at these temperatures, making food unsafe to eat.

If your oven doesn't include a “keep warm” preset, aim to manually set the temperature somewhere between 170°F and 200°F to help keep food in a safe range.

What is the Temperature Danger Zone? The Temperature Danger Zone is 8 to 63 degrees Celsius. You need to keep food out of this temperature range to ensure safety. Harmful bacteria will likely multiply on food products between 8°C and 63°C.

It is a myth that bacteria are killed at temperatures below 40 degrees. In fact, bacteria growth is slowed, but not stopped. The only way to kill bacteria by temperature is by cooking food at temperatures of 165 degrees or more. Bacteria also die in highly acidic environments like pickle juice.

Maintaining a core temperature of higher than 63 °C ensures that illness-causing bacteria do not have the necessary environment to grow or thrive. If cooked food is not stored above 63 °C, it should be used within two hours of cooking.

How do you know if food is stored at the correct temperature? ›

The food is safe if it has reached a high enough temperature for a long enough time. If you want to check the temperature of a food, use a clean probe. Insert the probe so that the tip is in the centre of the food (or the thickest part). legal requirement that hot food must be kept above 63°C.

TCS food must be cooled from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours and completely cooled to 41°F or below within 6 hours. TCS food prepared from ingredients at room temperature must be cooled to 41°F or below within 4 hours. Properly cooked chili is cooled from 135°F to 70°F in 1 hour.

Using temperature controls minimizes the potential for harmful bacterial growth and toxin formation in TCS food. Temperature controls either keep food entirely out of the danger zone or pass food through the danger zone as quickly as possible.

Proper food storage helps to preserve the quality and nutritional value of the foods you purchase, and also helps make the most of your food dollar by preventing spoilage. Additionally, proper food storage can help prevent foodborne illnesses caused by harmful bacteria.

A standard fridge keeps food at 35 to 38°F; once food rises above 40 degrees, then spoilage begins. Perishable food, including meat, fish, eggs, poultry, and other leftovers, begin to go bad.

Chilling foods to proper temperatures is one of the best ways to slow the growth of these bacteria. To ensure that your refrigerator is doing its job, it's important to keep its temperature at 40 °F or below; the freezer should be at 0 °F.

Discard any refrigerated perishable food (such as meat, poultry, seafood, milk, eggs, or leftovers) that has been at refrigerator temperatures above 40°F for 4 hours or more.

Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the "Danger Zone." That's why the Meat and Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food out of refrigeration over 2 hours.