The danger temperature zone for food is between 60°C and 5°C.
Food that is hotter than 60°C or colder than 5°C is considered safe. There is little risk of any harmful bugs growing or toxins being produced.
This means that you only need to begin recording the cooling process when the food temperature reaches 60°C, rather than right after it has been taken off the heat source.
The FSANZ Food Plan shows the three stages of cooling foods as below:
- Wait for food to reach 60°C
- Begin recording. Food must reach 21°C or room temp (whichever is colder) within 2 hours
- Food is placed in the fridge and must reach 5°C or below within 4 hours
Food Cooling Methods
Food can be cooled quickly using the following methods:
- placing food into shallow containers
- using an ice bath
- separating food into smaller portions
- using cooling racks
- placing food in a blast chiller
Recording Cooling Foods with Chomp
Keeping records of cooling hot foods is easy with Chomp's three step process. Watch the video below to see how!