Food Cold Room Temperatures

Why is it necessary to check the actual temperature of the food cold rooms?

Many times we feel that food kept in the cold room is safe from bacteria formation as the temperature inside the cold room is appropriate to keep away the formation of bacteria. But in actual it is not the case, when the temperature is not appropriate then the tendency of microorganism’s growth is more. The very purpose of food cold rooms is to keep the food out of the temperature danger zone.

The food cold room temperature display indicates the temperature inside the room; in order to determine whether the display is indicating the exact temperature of the cold room a thorough check need to be incorporated.

How to check the actual temperature of the food cold rooms?

The simplest way to check the actual cold room temperature is as follows:

1) Leave a container with water inside the chiller or the freezer of the cold room for 24 hours. Water is chilled as per the cold room temperature.

2) Note down the temperature which is shown on the cold room temperature.

3)  Place a calibrated probe thermometer in the same chilled water to note down the temperature.

4) Compare the reading of both the thermometers, if you find the readings are almost the same, then you can confirm that the cold room temperature display unit is correct. If there is a huge difference then a necessary corrective action has to be taken.

Relying on faulty temperature display unit may result in food storage safety issues. Therefore it is always safe to double check the cold room temperature display unit as it is the very critical food safety equipment.