Bacteria grow quickly when food gets too warm. Chilling is one of the most important ways of keeping food safe. Here we go through receiving goods and the most important Danish temperature requirements.
Checking goods on receipt
You may only use raw materials and products that are fit to eat (Hygiene Regulation, Annex II, Chapter IX, point 1). That is why goods must be checked when they arrive:
- Is the packaging intact and clean?
- Is the product cool if it has to be cold? Do you measure the temperature?
- Is there a label and a date mark?
- Does the product look as it should?
Goods must not be used until the receiving check has been done. If you cannot check straight away, chilled products must be put in the fridge in the meantime.
Which temperatures apply?
Some foods have a fixed temperature limit in the rules. For others the business decides for itself, based on the product, the shelf life and how the product is sold. Here are important examples from the retail stage. The requirements are in the Hygiene Executive Order (§ 25 and Annex 3) and in the EU rules for foods of animal origin and quick-frozen foods. Annex 3 of the Hygiene Guidance collects them in one overview:
- Maximum 5 °C: chilled, heat-treated perishable foods, minced meat, prepared meat, poultry meat, drinking milk and foods with custard, whipped cream or mousse.
- Maximum 10 °C: mayonnaise, salads and remoulade with a pH above 4.5.
- Maximum 12 °C: fresh eggs.
- 0-2 °C (in ice or at most 2 °C): fresh fish products.
- Maximum -18 °C: deep-frozen foods.
Remember that the requirements in the Hygiene Executive Order are normally ambient temperatures, that is, the temperature in the fridge. Some EU requirements apply to the temperature of the product itself. A wholesale business has stricter requirements for some products than a shop. Minced meat, for example, must be at most 2 °C at the wholesaler but 5 °C at retail.
If the product is labelled with a lower storage temperature than the requirement, you must follow the label. If the label states a higher temperature, the requirement in the rules still applies.
How to measure correctly
- The business must monitor the chilling and freezing temperature. This can be done with automatic recording or with fixed procedures.
- The thermometer should be placed at the warmest spot in the fridge and not close to where the cold air blows in.
- Check that the thermometer works. Write the reading down if the business requires it.
- If the temperature is too high, you must follow the business's rules. That may mean moving products or throwing them away.
The cold chain
The cold chain should not be broken. But it is necessary to take food out of the fridge when you prepare, plate up or sell it. This is allowed for short periods if it is not a health risk.
- As a rule of thumb, food that needs chilling should not be out of the fridge for more than three hours. The time also counts while the food is being prepared and plated up.
- Leftovers that have been out of the fridge normally have to be thrown away.
- Avoid leaving chilled products standing out of the fridge. Prepare what you need and put the rest back in the fridge.
Sushi and other dishes with raw fish may be out of the fridge on a buffet for at most three hours, counted from when the raw material is taken out of the fridge.
Freezing and thawing
Deep-frozen foods must be kept at -18 °C or colder. Thaw foods in a place where they do not contaminate anything else, for example in a fridge. Take care that drips of meat juice do not get onto other products.
Labelling
Pre-packed perishable foods must be labelled with a storage temperature. It must be followed all the way.
Remember
- Check goods on receipt. Do not use them before.
- Known limits: 5 °C for many chilled products, 0-2 °C for fresh fish, -18 °C for deep-frozen food.
- At most three hours out of the fridge as a rule of thumb.