What is the highest safe temperature for a refrigerator

When you’re working with fresh, whole ingredients, you’re not working with cans and boxes. By feeding your family better nutrients, it also means that you’re not working with nearly as many preservatives. Stemming the tide of preservatives into your body is a good thing, but it necessitates food safety diligence to avoid unsavory bacterias in your food.

Table of Contents Show

Rule #1: Temperature Matters
Rule #2: Placement Matters
1. The closer a food is to the door, the more it experiences fluctuating temperatures.
2. Store foods above one another in order of the internal temperature you’d need to cook them to for safe eating.
3. What about the vegetable crisper?
How important is the temperature danger zone?
Use a thermometer
Do you want to learn more?
Did you find this article useful?
Will food spoil at 50 degrees in refrigerator?
What is the highest warmest allowed temperature for fridges?
Is 45 degrees a safe temperature for a refrigerator?
What temperature is unsafe for a refrigerator?

Chefs and other food service workers are trained in food safety from day one, but for most home cooks, many of these lessons go untaught. But really, the only people in the world who handle food more than food service workers are regular people trying to feed their families. It’s easy to believe that as long as a food is in the fridge, it’s safe to eat, but that belief can lead to some common practices that can end with wasted food, or worse, a family visit to the ER for food poisoning.

Rule #1: Temperature Matters

The maximum internal temperature for food stored in the fridge is 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Any higher than that and you’re creeping into the range where bacteria gets out the mix tape and lights the candles, so to speak. To keep the internal temperature of the food at 41 degrees, the air temperature in the fridge needs to remain at 39. Also remember that the more times the door is opened, the harder it is to maintain the temperature. If your family is large or prone to frequently grazing out of the refrigerator, you might want to keep your refrigerator a few degrees cooler.

Most home-grade refrigerators don’t have thermometers, so all you have to guarantee the chill on your food is faith in the manufacturers. Simple thermometers like this one that hang from the wire racks or suction cup to the wall are inexpensive, easy to come by, and worth the investment.

Use a thermometer in your fridge.

You also need to be mindful of how your use of the fridge impacts the internal temperature. Refrigerators require airflow to maintain temperature; if you pack your shelves too tightly, your fridge will hike your electricity bill as it struggles to keep your food cold, and you’ll still be at risk for food poisoning. For the same reason, it’s a bad idea to line your shelves with foil or store a dish on a baking sheet when you don’t need to. Putting a steaming hot pan of food into the fridge is also a risky business: hot food will bring the temperature in the fridge up to the bacteria-loving zone before your fridge has the chance to cool it off.

Rule #2: Placement Matters

If your household is anything like mine, it’s far too easy to just shove all the groceries in the fridge as fast as you can when you get home from shopping. Time is rare enough as it is without taking the time to make sure your fridge is properly packed, but teaching your kids a few simple rules and handing the job off to them will help them learn a skill that will keep them that much safer when they have flown the nest.

1. The closer a food is to the door, the more it experiences fluctuating temperatures.

Don’t store perishable foods, like eggs and milk, on the door. Store raw meat as far back in the fridge as possible.

2. Store foods above one another in order of the internal temperature you’d need to cook them to for safe eating.

From top to bottom, your fridge should look like this: fully cooked foods (e.g., leftovers and cold cuts), raw fish, whole cuts of beef and pork, ground meat, whole poultry.

3. What about the vegetable crisper?

It’s at the bottom because the high humidity keeps the high-water plant cells from drying out and collapsing into mush, but vegetables don’t really need to be cooked at all, right? Right. Store your vegetables in containers with tightly sealed lids. Better yet, wash them thoroughly and prep them for the week before they go into the fridge and you’ll find most of your prep work done when dinnertime rolls around on a busy weeknight.

Safe refrigerator storage and organization practices are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to food safety, but that tiny tip requires little effort and will keep your family safe and your budget insulated from unnecessary food waste. Moreover, I think you’ll find that making the effort to store your food carefully will improve your cooking, both in terms of flavor and ease. Well-stored ingredients stay fresh for longer, and everyone can agree that fresh tastes best.

Knowing the correct temperatures involved in cooking, holding and storing food is a critical step in avoiding foodborne illness.

The temperature danger zone, when it comes to food safety, describes a temperature range at which bacteria grow most quickly on food. Food should be kept out of this danger zone as much as possible to prevent the growth of potentially harmful germs.

Today, that temperature range is 40 degrees Fahrenheit (the maximum temperature a refrigerator should be) to 140 degrees F (the minimum temperature hot food should be kept at for an extended period of time). This temperature range has changed over the years, and even today, there is some question over the usefulness of this range. So how much should you care?

How important is the temperature danger zone?

In the world of bacteria, there is no “one size fits all rule.” There are many factors besides temperature that influence whether or not bacteria grow on food. These include moisture content, salt level and acidity. However, temperature is one of the main factors that we can control.

55 to 85 degrees F (Dangerous): Food can become dangerous in several hours.
85 to 115 degrees F (Very Dangerous): Food could become dangerous in as little as a couple hours if other factors (mentioned previously) are ideal for bacterial growth.
115 to 125 degrees F (Dangerous): Food can become dangerous in several hours.

Foods stored just above proper refrigerator temperature (warmer than 40 degrees F) and just under hot holding temperature (cooler than 140 degrees F) may become dangerous in a few days.

Keep in mind refrigeration does not kill any bacteria that may already be on food but proper handling and refrigeration helps prevent further growth and spread of potentially harmful bacteria.

Use a thermometer

Keeping food in the middle section of the temperature danger zone can be very risky, but as you go out from the middle temperature range, the risk lowers because conditions becomes increasingly less ideal for bacterial growth. This doesn’t, however, mean that it’s a good idea to turn your fridge up to 50 degrees F to save on energy bills because you are significantly increasing your risk of foodborne illness when food is stored at those temperatures over a long period of time (days rather than hours). Michigan State University Extension recommends keeping a thermometer on the door of your fridge to monitor proper temperature of cold-stored foods, and to use a calibrated food thermometer to check the proper internal temperature of cooked foods.

Remember, there is more than one factor contributing to bacterial growth that can lead to foodborne illness. If proper food safety practices such as handwashing are not followed and there is a large amount of bacteria on the food to begin with, the temperature you store or hold it at may not even matter.

Do you want to learn more?

To help people be healthy at every stage of life, Michigan State University Extension delivers affordable, relevant, evidence-based education to serve the needs of adults, youth and families in urban and rural communities.

Our programs cover all areas of health, from buying and preparing nutritious, budget-friendly food to managing stress, preventing or living well with diabetes and optimal aging – MSU Extension has the information you need in a format you can use, in-person and online. Contact your local MSU Extension county office to find a class near you.

Did you find this article useful?

Will food spoil at 50 degrees in refrigerator?

If the fridge is still at or below 40 °F, or the food has been above 40 °F for only 2 hours or less, it should be safe to eat.

What is the highest warmest allowed temperature for fridges?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that you keep your refrigerator temperature at or below 40°F and your freezer temperature at or below 0°F.

Is 45 degrees a safe temperature for a refrigerator?

The ideal refrigerator temperature is about 37°F (3°C). However, a range of 33–40°F (0–4°C) is generally accepted as safe for most purposes. Temperatures below 33°F may freeze foods while temperatures above 40°F may lead to food spoilage.

What temperature is unsafe for a refrigerator?

The temperature in a refrigerator should be 40 °F or below throughout the unit, so that any place is safe for storage of any food. Raw meat, poultry, and seafood should be in a sealed container or wrapped securely to prevent raw juices from contaminating other foods.