A free, printable fridge and freezer temperature chart — record cold-storage temperatures, confirm fridges stay ≤5°C and freezers stay frozen hard, and note corrective actions. Free PDF.
Cold potentially hazardous food must be kept at or below 5C, so commercial fridges are commonly set around 3C to 4C to stay safely under that limit. Recording each fridge on a chart confirms it is holding temperature and gives you an early warning if a unit starts to fail.
A freezer should keep food frozen hard, which typically means around minus 18C. There is no danger-zone concern while food stays solidly frozen, but you should still check and record freezer temperatures so you notice quickly if a unit is failing and food is starting to thaw.
A common practice is to check and record cold storage at least once or twice a day, such as at opening and during service. More frequent checks are wise during busy periods or hot weather. Your chart should capture the reading, the time and who took it for each unit.
Act immediately: move food to a working unit, check the appliance, and assess whether the food is still safe using the 2-hour/4-hour rule for how long it may have been in the danger zone. Record the reading, the action taken and the outcome as a corrective action on the chart.
A wall chart makes cold-storage checks visible and easy to complete, so they are less likely to be forgotten, and it gives inspectors an at-a-glance history right next to the unit. It shows council that you monitor cold storage consistently and act when something is out of range.
Yes. This tool gives you a free printable chart, and FoodSafety HQ can run fridge and freezer checks digitally, so staff record readings on a phone, out-of-range values trigger a prompt and corrective action, and the history is stored automatically for inspections.