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You are here: Home > Environment > Environmental Health > Food Safety > Business Advice > Best Practice > Chilled and Frozen Foods

Guidelines for chilled and frozen foods

This section provides information and guidelines on best practices of food refrigeration.

Please follow our guidelines below to ensure your food is safe to serve up. 

• Open refrigerator and freezer doors as little as possible, to help prevent the temperature rising.
• Do not overfill refrigerators and refrigerated display cabinets
• Do not fill freezers above the freezer load line, as the food will not be kept cold enough.
• When purchasing chilled or frozen items, use insulated containers to transport them directly to your premises, and place in the refrigerator or freezer immediately.
• Check the temperature of deliveries of chilled and frozen foods. Frozen foods warmer than -12°C should not be accepted. Chilled foods should be at 8°C or colder.
• Defrost frozen food in a refrigerator whenever possible. If there is insufficient space, defrost in a cool place and cook immediately when fully thawed.
• Do not leave perishable food at room temperature.
• Refrigerators and display counters should keep food at or below 8°C but preferably below 5°C.
• Refrigerators should be sited in well ventilated areas away from heat sources.
• Some frozen products, known as quick frozen food, are required to be kept at -12°C or colder, preferably at -18°C
• Do not re-heat food more than once. Refrigerators should be sited in well ventilated areas away from heat sources.
• The units should be serviced regularly and door seals must be maintained in good condition.  

Download  a blank temperature control sheet (pdf) (45.7kB). It is recommended that you monitor temperatures once or twice daily.

The person recording the temperature should initial the sheet, so you know who is doing the checks for you.