What do you need to know?
• You must cool food correctly, so that it does not stay in the temperature danger zone (5°C–60°C) long enough for bugs to grow to unsafe levels.
• If you don’t cool hot food quickly, bugs will grow and make your food unsafe and unsuitable.
What do you need to do?
• Cool food quickly to stop bugs growing or producing toxins.
• When cooling freshly cooked food it must get from:
◦◦ 60°C to 5°C (or below) in less than 6 hours or it must be thrown out,
◦◦ 60°C to room temperature or 21°C (whichever is colder) in less than 2 hours, then room temperature or 21°C (whichever is colder) to 5°C (or below) in less than 4 hours.
• Use any (or a combination) of these methods: (tick as appropriate):
placing your food into shallow containers
using an ice bath
separating your food into smaller portions
placing your food in a blast chiller
• Once your food is at room temperature or 21°C (whichever is colder), put it in the fridge or chiller.
• Check after 4 hours that food is at 5°C or below.
• Throw out any freshly cooked food which has been in the temperature danger zone for more than 6 hours.
What do you need to show?
• Show or describe to your verifier how you cool freshly cooked food quickly.
• Show your verifier records of how you safely cool each batch of freshly cooked food (i.e. 60°C to room temperature or 21°C (whichever is colder) in less than 2 hours, then room temperature or 21°C (whichever is colder) to 5°C (or below) in less than 4 hours.
• Write down:
◦◦ the food,
◦◦ date the food was cooked,
◦◦ the time it took to cool down.
