Food Storage Standards & Your Business

For any business, compliance with industry codes is vital, especially when it concerns the safety of your customers. Here's a short guide to temperature control standards for Australian commercial food storage.

 

What foods require refrigeration?

Put quite simply, any foods are potentially hazardous as they are able to harbour bacteria that is dangerous for humans to ingest, causing food poisoning.

 

These include perishables such as meat and dairy, prepared meals such as wraps or sandwiches, many foods high in protein and some opened shelf goods, as guided by packet instructions.

 

When refrigerating and freezing food it is important to keep raw and cooked foods separate as well as storing cooked food above raw food to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

 

When does food require refrigeration?

Food requires refrigeration in your business when it is received, displayed, transported and stored. This is to ensure that its temperature remains consistent, preventing a change in temperature that could create a breeding ground for bacteria.

 

This means under 5 degrees or over 60 degrees celsius at every stage of the process.

 

Cooling and preparing hazardous foods

For food that you intend to cook and then use later, you must cool food as quickly as possibly back to five degrees. Foods must be brought from 60 degrees to 21 degrees in a maximum of two hours, then from 21 degrees to 5 degrees celsius in the following two hours.

 

This can be monitored simply through the use of a kitchen thermometer.

 

While there is no definitive temperature that you must prepare hazardous food at, try to prepare food as quickly as possible to minimise risk.

 

Reheating cooked food

Reheated food can prove a breeding ground for bacteria when not completed quickly and efficiently - this means up to 60 degrees within a maximum of two hours. This does not apply where food is being immediately served or eaten, rather for food reheated to hold temperature.

 

While it may seem like a complicated set of rules, with the right food storage units and thermometers, maintaining food safety standards is easy! The Fridgitech team is here to help you find the safest and most effective storage solutions for your business.

 

Talk to us today about how we can help!