How to cool cooked food safely

The FSAI guidance in short

• Cool cooked food that won’t be eaten straight away as quickly as possible, and put it in the fridge within two hours of cooking finishing.
• The Safe Catering cooling record (SC3) adds a check: if food isn’t in the fridge within 2 hours and is above 10 °C at 2½ hours, serve it immediately or throw it out. Below 10 °C within 2½ hours: refrigerate or freeze it.
• Once cooled, keep it at 0–5 °C.
• Prepared chilled food: keep it no longer than two days, counting the day it was made as day 0.
• Frozen food: no longer than six months in the freezer, and freeze it only once.
• Reheat once only, to 70 °C or above at the core.

These figures are FSAI guidance from its temperature control advice for caterers and the FSAI Safe Catering pack. Your own food safety management system sets the limits you work to, and may be stricter.

Why cooling matters

Cooking kills most bacteria, but not all: some form spores that survive cooking and start growing again as the food cools. The longer food sits warm, the more they multiply, and reheating doesn’t always undo the damage. Large pots of stew, soup, rice, gravy and joints of meat are the usual risks, because the middle stays warm long after the outside feels cool.

How to cool food quickly

• Use a blast chiller if you have one. It is designed to chill hot food quickly and safely.
• Split it up. Divide large batches into smaller portions or shallow trays. Smaller amounts cool much faster.
• Use an ice bath. Stand containers in cold water and ice, and replace the ice as it melts.
• Stir regularly with a clean utensil so the food cools evenly.
• Slice joints of meat rather than cooling them whole.
• Don’t overload the fridge with warm food: it raises the temperature of everything else. Space containers out and keep an eye on the fridge reading.

Foods that need extra care

• Rice and grains: cool cooked rice quickly in a thin layer and refrigerate it. Some bacteria in rice form spores that survive cooking and can make toxins if it sits warm.
• Stocks, soups and sauces: large volumes hold heat for hours. Split them into smaller containers or use an ice bath, and stir.
• Joints of meat and whole birds: slice or portion them to cool, rather than cooling them whole.
• Stews and curries: spread into shallow trays; a deep pot can stay warm in the middle long after the top is cool.

What to record

For each batch you cool, a cooling log usually shows:

1. The food and the batch (if you label batches).
2. The time cooking finished.
3. The time it went into the fridge or blast chiller, and its temperature then.
4. Who did it.
5. If it took too long, what you did: served it straight away or threw it out.

Label the food with what it is and the date it was made, so the two-day limit is easy to follow.

Common mistakes

• Leaving a pot on the stove or the pass to cool overnight.
• Covering hot food tightly, which traps the heat.
• Writing “cooled” with no times or temperatures.
• Reheating the same batch twice, or topping up old food with new.

Cooling in Hygivo

In Hygivo, cooling is part of the batch record: the cook, the cooling readings and any reheat of the same food are kept together, with the FSAI timings applied and a reminder when a check is due. Cooking, cooling and reheating in Hygivo.

This is general information, not advice for your business. Your food safety management system (HACCP plan) and FSAI guidance are the reference. Hygivo is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FSAI.