Food Safety Fridge And Freezer Temperatures

There are very specific rules regarding the temperatures that food must be stored at cooked to and reheated to and if not followed the risk of becoming ill as a result of contamination increases.

Food safety fridge and freezer temperatures.

Use an appliance thermometer to be sure the temperature is consistently 40 f or below and the freezer temperature is 0 f or below. The recommended freezer temperature to keep your food safe is at or below 0 f 18 c but your freezer may need to be set higher or lower depending on its environment and other factors. Also when putting food away don t crowd the refrigerator or freezer so tightly that air can t circulate. Follow the guidelines below for storing food in the refrigerator and freezer.

It can also be caused from too cold temperature settings in the freezer. Maintaining the ideal fridge and freezer temperature is important. The bottom line on fridge freezer temperatures. The perfect temperature range for a freezer is at or slightly below 0 f and never more than 2 f.

Adjust the freezer settings as necessary to get the temperature in a safe range after making adjustments to either the freezer or refrigerator check the thermometer s temperature readout after five hours repeating the adjustment process until the reading is in the ideal range. If your fridge is looking full take out items that don t need to be chilled such as beer. The typical freezer factory setting on whirlpool refrigerators is a great starting point at the recommended 0 f 18 c. Leaving space allows air to circulate and maintains the set temperature.

The guidelines for freezer storage are for quality only frozen foods stored continuously at 0 f or below can be kept indefinitely. Food could cause the. Don t overfill your fridge. At 5 c or colder and at freezing temperatures many bacteria that cause food poisoning and food spoilage either don t grow or their growth may be slowed down.

This will make room for the items that do need to be chilled for safety reasons such as raw ready to eat and cooked food. Fridge at a safe temperature. Food storage refers to food which is kept it the fridge freezer pantry or in some instances a warming receptacle. The short time limits for home refrigerated foods will help keep them from spoiling or becoming dangerous to eat.

A refrigerator thermometer may also be used to measure the freezer temperature which should be 0 f or 18 c. Keep your appliances at the proper temperatures.