Controlling temperature and time is what protects food most. Germs multiply very fast at room temperature and very slowly when cold.
The figures in this lesson come from two sources. For prepared meals, Real Decreto 1086/2020 (article 30, as worded by Real Decreto 1021/2022) sets legal temperatures. The others are customary references from good hygiene practice guides. Your employer sets its own in its self-checking plan (HACCP), and they may be stricter. Always follow those of your workplace.
The danger zone
Between about 5 °C and 65 °C bacteria multiply rapidly. That is why:
- cold food is kept cold;
- hot food is kept hot;
- food spends as little time as possible in the danger zone.
What the law sets for prepared meals
- Chilled: at 4 °C or below at the core if they last more than 24 hours, and at 8 °C or below if they last less than 24 hours. Cold does not kill germs, it only slows their growth.
- Frozen: at −18 °C or below. Freezing stops growth, but it does not destroy all germs.
- Hot: at 63 °C or above until service. Many businesses set 65 °C to have a margin.
- Cooling: the centre must fall from 60 °C to 10 °C in less than two hours.
- Reheating: at least 74 °C for 15 seconds in the centre, in one go, not several times.
Customary references when cooking
- Cooked: many guides ask for the centre of the food to reach about 70 °C (or an equivalent combination of temperature and time set by your employer), especially for minced meat and poultry.
- Dishes with raw egg: Real Decreto 1021/2022 (article 9) requires them to reach at least 70 °C for two seconds in the centre, or 63 °C for twenty seconds if served for immediate consumption (fried eggs, omelettes); if they are not heated in this way, egg products are used instead of raw egg.
Measure with a clean, disinfected probe thermometer, in the centre of the food. The air temperature of the cold room is not the temperature of the food.
Receiving goods
Check the temperature on arrival: chilled foods should arrive cold, frozen foods hard and with no signs of having thawed and refrozen (ice, puddles in the box). If it is not right, do not accept it and report it.
Storage
- Close the doors of cold rooms and fridges as soon as possible.
- Do not overload the fridge: air must circulate.
- Raw at the bottom, cooked on top, everything covered and labelled with the date of preparation or opening.
- Use-by date ("consumir antes de…") and best-before date ("consumir preferentemente antes de…") are different things. A product past its use-by date is never used, even if it looks fine. One past its best-before date may still be safe, but loses quality.
- Apply FIFO and keep dry goods on shelves, away from the floor and the walls, in closed containers.
Defrosting
- In the fridge, in a container that catches the liquid and below ready-to-eat food, not above it.
- Do not defrost at room temperature.
- Do not refreeze food that has been defrosted without cooking it first.
Cooling cooked food
Stews, rice or sauces to be stored must be cooled as quickly as possible (for example, in shallow containers or in a blast chiller) and moved to cold storage straight away. For prepared meals, the centre must fall from 60 °C to 10 °C in less than two hours. Do not leave them for hours at room temperature.
The cold chain during service
For transport, sale or catering, keep food cold or hot until the last moment: insulated bags, bains-marie, refrigerated display cabinets.
Key points
- Danger zone: about 5 °C to 65 °C. Spend as little time in it as possible.
- Prepared meals: chilled at 4 °C or below (8 °C if they last less than 24 hours), frozen at −18 °C or below, hot at 63 °C or above, reheated to 74 °C in the centre.
- Measure in the centre with a clean probe thermometer.
- Defrost in the fridge and do not refreeze.