Hot-Smoking Food: What Food Businesses Needs to Know

How to hot-smoke and stay food safety compliant

Hot smoking makes food taste smoky and delicious and it’s also a legit way to keep bugs under control. But before you fire up the smoker, there are some food safety rules you need to follow, and here we break it down for you, minus the jargon.

Why hot smoking matters

Hot smoking can help stop nasty bugs from growing in your food. But there’s a catch: it’s not always enough on its own. Sometimes you’ll need extra processing or cold storage to make sure your food stays safe. Think of smoking as part of the safety toolkit, not the whole kit and kaboodle.

First things first: what’s your goal?

You need to be clear on why you’re hot smoking:

• To cook the food
• To add flavour only

The rules you follow depend on your answer.

Smoking seafood rules

Seafood is tricky, so the rules are strict:

• Only use seafood that’s fresh.
• If smoking = cooking, you’ve got to hit specific time + temperature combos to make it safe. For example:
  • Mussels: 63°C for 6 min
  • Salmon/oily fish: 65°C for 4.5 min
  • Lean fish (like hoki): 68°C for 1 min
  • Shellfish/crustacea: 70°C for 1.5 min
• If smoking = flavour only, the 2-hour/4-hour rule kicks in. (Translation: don’t leave it sitting around too long.)

Smoking meat rules

Meat rules are simpler:

• If smoking = cooking, cook to 75°C for at least 30 seconds (or use an approved time/temperature combo).
• Keep equipment in good nick — heating, airflow, and wood chips all need to work properly.
• Use temp-controlled spaces or manual control to keep the smoking consistent.
• Space products out evenly so smoke and heat circulate properly.

After the smoke

Once the food is smoked, you’ve still got some housekeeping to do:

• If it needs to stay cold, store at or below 5°C.
• Label with date + time, and make sure it’s used within 5 days or given a proper Use-By date.
• Follow MPI’s or your local council's packaging and labelling rules.

Keep food safety records

This is the part no one loves, but it keeps your verifier happy:

• Log air temperature, smoking start + finish times, and core food temperature.
• If smoking for flavour only, record the air temp and how long it smoked.
• Prove your method works. If you smoke regularly, you might only need to check batches weekly.

The bottom line

Hot smoking is awesome, it makes food taste incredible and helps keep it safe. But whether you’re cooking or just flavouring, you’ve got to follow the rules. With the right records, temps, and storage, your smoky creations will be safe, compliant, and ready to serve.