How to use the fridge temperature log
Free, no sign-up. Works for restaurants, cafés, takeaways, pubs, caterers, food vans and home bakers. Not legal advice: your council's food safety team has the final say.
- 1
Enter your business name
And, if you like, your logo.
- 2
Add each unit
Walk-in, under-counter, display chiller, bottle fridge (if it holds food), freezer. Give each a clear name, such as "Fridge 1: raw meat".
- 3
Pick a period
One week (A4 landscape) or one month.
- 4
Choose checks per day
Opening and closing (most kitchens), or three times for busy or high-risk units.
- 5
Download
As a PDF to print, or Excel to fill in on a tablet.
- 6
Pin it by the fridges
Staff write the reading, time and initials, and fill in the action column if a reading is high.
- 7
Review it weekly
A manager signs the bottom. Keep old sheets with your food safety records.
What temperature should a commercial fridge be in the UK?
| Unit | Rule or target | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Chilled food | 8°C or below | Law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; recommended in Scotland |
| Fridge setting | 5°C or below | FSA advice, so food stays under 8°C even when the door is busy |
| Freezer | -18°C or colder | Widely used standard; no single legal freezer temperature |
| Hot holding (if you log it too) | 63°C or above | Law in England, Wales and NI |
The 8°C rule is about the food, not just the air. A fridge display can read low while food on the top shelf near the door is warmer. Use a probe between packs if a reading looks odd.
Chilled food can be out of the fridge (for example, on display or during prep) for up to 4 hours, once. After that, throw it away.
How to check a fridge temperature properly
- Morning, before service, and at close. Busy units with doors opening all day may need a midday check too.
- Read the display, dial or a fridge thermometer. SFBB says you can use the display, as long as you regularly check it's accurate with a fridge thermometer or a clean probe between packs of chilled food. Probe straight away if the display looks wrong.
- Not straight after a delivery or a long door opening. Wait a few minutes and check again.
- Write the real number, not a tick. Officers can spot sheets filled in all at once.
- Calibrate your probe regularly in iced water (about 0°C) and boiling water (about 100°C).
What to do if the fridge is too warm
| Reading | What to do | Write down |
|---|---|---|
| 5°C or below | Nothing. All good | Reading, time, initials |
| Above 5°C, up to 8°C | Check the door is closed and seals are sound, don't overload, recheck in 30 minutes | Reading, recheck result |
| Above 8°C | Probe the food. Move high-risk food to another fridge. If food has been above 8°C for longer than you can account for, or you don't know how long, throw it away. Call an engineer | Reading, food checked, what you moved or threw away, engineer called |
| Freezer not keeping food frozen (well above -18°C, or food going soft) | Move food that's still hard and icy to another freezer. Food that has started to defrost: finish defrosting it safely and use it (cook raw meat until piping hot), or throw it away. Never refreeze ice cream once it has started to melt. Get the freezer fixed | Reading, what you moved, used or threw away |
This "corrective action" column is what officers look for at an EHO inspection. A log with every reading at exactly 3°C and no actions ever recorded can look less believable than an honest one.
How long should I keep fridge temperature records?
There's no single legal period. The FSA's Safer Food, Better Business pack asks you to keep completed diary pages until your next inspection. Keeping them for longer does no harm. If you ever face a complaint or food poisoning claim, records are your due diligence evidence that you took reasonable care.
Your log sheet is one part of your food safety management system. If you don't have one yet, start with SFBB (England and Wales), CookSafe (Scotland), Safe Catering (Northern Ireland) or our HACCP plan template.
Fridge temperature log for home bakers and food vans
- Home bakers: keep business ingredients on a separate shelf and log your home fridge like any other. Officers will ask to see it.
- Food vans and stalls: log at set-up and pack-down, and before and after transport. Cool boxes count too. Use a probe.
- Display chillers (cake counters, grab-and-go): these warm up fastest. Check them more often.
Make temperature checks part of the routine
Logs only work if someone fills them in every day. Put the sheet next to the fridges with a pen on a string, add the check to your opening and closing routine, and make one person on each shift responsible. A food safety poster with your temperature targets helps new staff.
Aiming for the top score? See how to get a 5-star food hygiene rating.
Spend less time on the phone, more on the kitchen
Menuthere won't check your fridges, but it can take phone orders off your hands. Customers order collection, delivery or at the table from your own ordering page, and orders arrive on your dashboard, phone and kitchen printer. There's 0% commission and the Free plan includes 50 orders a month.
Create your free ordering page. Keep your allergen records in order too, with our free allergen matrix.