Fridge and freezer temperatures

Read and record the temperature of every fridge and freezer at least once a day, in a diary you can produce on demand — not just a glance at the dial. Fridges should read at or below 5°C, freezers at or below -18°C.

Temperature drift is usually the first sign of a failing compressor or a door seal that has gone. Catch it in a daily log and it is a maintenance call. Miss it and it is spoiled stock or, worse, food poisoning with no record to show you were checking.

Watch out for

• Writing down the same "safe" number every day without actually reading the display — an inspector spots a diary with no variation instantly.
• Filling in a week of blank boxes in one sitting before an inspection ("dry-labbing") — the handwriting and ink give it away.
• Recording the reading but never acting on it — a fridge sitting at 6°C for three days straight should trigger a call to a refrigeration engineer, not just another tick.

Sources

• FSA — Safer Food, Better Business for caterers checked 2026-09-02

See also

• Probes, thermometers and the temperature log— this becomes part of getting open →
• Put your HACCP system in place— this becomes part of getting open →
• Probe thermometer accuracy check
• Start the logbook on day one— this becomes part of getting open →