Temperature Control, Storage and Cross-Contamination Prevention
The danger zone and target temperatures
The danger zone is 5°C to 63°C, where bacteria multiply fastest. Keep food out of it, or minimise time in it. Chilled food should be held at 5°C or below; frozen food at -18°C or below; hot food at 63°C or above. Check with a probe thermometer, clean and disinfect the probe between uses, and record readings.
Cooking, cooling and reheating
- Cook food to a core temperature of at least 75°C for 30 seconds, or an equivalent time-temperature combination. Poultry, minced meat, rolled joints and kebabs need thorough cooking.
- Cool cooked food rapidly. A common target is 63°C to 5°C within two hours, often split into 63°C to 21°C within 90 minutes and 21°C to 5°C within 90 minutes. Use shallow containers, ice baths or blast chillers.
- Reheat to 75°C or above, once only. Do not reheat food repeatedly.
- Hot-hold at 63°C or above; cold-hold at 5°C or below.
Storage and cross-contamination
Store raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs below ready-to-eat food, in lidded containers, so juices cannot drip. Use separate fridges where possible. Apply FIFO and date labels. Keep food off the floor and away from cleaning chemicals. Use colour-coded boards and utensils, separate cloths, and clean and disinfect between raw and ready-to-eat tasks. Allergen cross-contact needs the same separation discipline.
Worked example
Raw chicken is stored on the top shelf above a bowl of salad. Chicken juice drips onto the salad. This is cross-contamination: Campylobacter or Salmonella can be transferred without the salad looking, smelling or tasting different. The fix is to store raw chicken below ready-to-eat food in a lidded container, clean the fridge, and discard contaminated salad. Wrapping the chicken is not sufficient if juices can still leak.
Traps
- Overloading a fridge so air cannot circulate.
- Using one cloth for raw and cooked areas.
- Reheating food more than once.
- Trusting appearance or smell instead of temperature records.
- Storing raw and cooked food on the same shelf because both are wrapped.