Food storage temperature chart

Quick-freezing brings the core temperature down very fast, and the product is then held at -18 °C or colder - a figure harmonised across the EU. Food that is simply frozen falls under national rules; the -12 °C in this table is the French figure, and the one in force where you operate may differ. The two words are not interchangeable on a log sheet, and a freezer set for quick-frozen stock is not set like a frozen-storage cabinet.

The label prevails. Where the manufacturer sets a storage temperature, that is the one that applies, including when it is stricter than the general regulatory figure. The values in this table are maxima that apply in the absence of any indication.

Yes. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires food businesses to operate permanent procedures based on HACCP principles, and that is where you set, enclosure by enclosure, the limits you undertake to hold and what happens when one is exceeded. It is that document, not a generic table, that an inspector compares your records against.

No. Most vaccines are kept between +2 and +8 °C, according to their SmPC; freezing damages some of them: the range has a floor as well as a ceiling. A single short excursion can make a batch unusable, which is why pharmacies record temperature continuously rather than twice a day.

For a fridge there is no single figure but regulatory maxima depending on what it holds: +2 °C at most for minced meat preparations, +4 °C at most for cooked dishes and highly perishable foods, +8 °C at most for other perishable foods. The ideal setting is the one that holds the limit of the most demanding food at the warmest point of the enclosure, with margin. For a freezer, quick-frozen food is kept at -18 °C or below; -12 °C is the threshold retained for frozen products.

Yes: +10 °C exceeds every maximum in the table, including the most tolerant one, +8 °C for other perishable foods. The food inside is out of range. What to do is what the food safety plan says: record the value as read, look for the cause (door, defrost, load, breakdown), move the food to a compliant enclosure and decide its fate according to how long the excursion lasted. That duration is what matters, and only continuous recording gives it.

On a commercial cabinet the setpoint is set in degrees on the thermostat; on a domestic fridge with a dial, the number is not a temperature. In both cases what the appliance displays is the value of its own probe, not that of the food. The method: place a thermometer at the warmest point of the enclosure, often at the top and near the door, set it so that this point holds the limit of the most demanding food, wait for the enclosure to settle, then read. A temperature mapping says where that point is; a logger says whether it stays there.

A chilled cold room holds the same limits as the food it stores: +2 °C, +4 °C or +8 °C at most depending on the category, so the most demanding one when they are mixed. A freezer room holds -18 °C or below for quick-frozen food. The value to monitor is that of the worst-case point of the room, found by a temperature mapping, not that of the condensing unit or of the door display.