What temperature should a fridge be for food safety?

A commercial fridge holding chilled food should run cold enough to keep food out of the danger zone — this log shows the safe upper limit for your area, and any reading above it should trigger the action recorded in the corrective-action column.

How often should I check fridge and freezer temperatures?

Use the frequency in your food-safety plan and review it against the risks at your site. The template provides morning and afternoon slots; adjust it to the checks your kitchen needs.

Is this fridge temperature log free to use?

Yes. Print it and use it as often as you like, at no cost. If you'd rather not chase paper, ProCafe records the same checks on your team's phones, flags out-of-range readings and keeps an inspection-ready history — free for 14 days, no card required.

Do I have to write it down, or can I log temperatures digitally?

Either works. Paper logs are accepted by inspectors as long as they're kept up to date. ProCafe does the same job digitally: time-stamped readings, automatic out-of-range alerts and records you can export for an inspection in seconds.

Free fridge & freezer temperature log

A ready-to-print daily temperature log for your fridges and freezers, with the safe limits already filled in for your area. Print it for the wall, or skip the paper and log readings on your phone with ProCafe.

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Putting this into practice in Australia

Organise evidence around the activities in your Australian food business. Standard 3.2.2A's evidence tool applies to category one businesses; the relevant work includes receiving, storing, processing, displaying and transporting food, plus cleaning and sanitising. Match the records to your business category and state or territory requirements.

FSANZ: evidence tool and prescribed activities

Record each cooling or reheating stage against the Australian process selected for the site. Keep elapsed time with temperature; one final reading cannot show how the food moved through the process.
Keep the thermometer's verification method and result with the equipment history. Investigate suspect measurements and document the affected food before treating the next acceptable reading as closure.

ProCafe · Free template

Fridge & freezer temperature log

View a completed example

Fictional example: 25 September, 08:00 — display fridge, 7.4 °C against a site target of 5 °C. Action: moved food to a working fridge, checked food temperature and exposure, and reported the fault. Recorded by Sam. Use your own plan's limits and record the action actually taken.

Site: Week beginning:

Safe fridge limit: ≤ 5 °CSafe freezer limit: ≤ -18 °C

Day	Date	Fridge AM	Fridge PM	Freezer AM	Freezer PM	Initials	Action if out of range
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

Record the temperature at each check. If a reading is outside the safe limit, write the action you took (move stock, adjust the unit, call for repair) in the last column.

Questions

Common questions

What temperature should a fridge be for food safety?: A commercial fridge holding chilled food should run cold enough to keep food out of the danger zone — this log shows the safe upper limit for your area, and any reading above it should trigger the action recorded in the corrective-action column.
How often should I check fridge and freezer temperatures?: Use the frequency in your food-safety plan and review it against the risks at your site. The template provides morning and afternoon slots; adjust it to the checks your kitchen needs.
Is this fridge temperature log free to use?: Yes. Print it and use it as often as you like, at no cost. If you'd rather not chase paper, ProCafe records the same checks on your team's phones, flags out-of-range readings and keeps an inspection-ready history — free for 14 days, no card required.
Do I have to write it down, or can I log temperatures digitally?: Either works. Paper logs are accepted by inspectors as long as they're kept up to date. ProCafe does the same job digitally: time-stamped readings, automatic out-of-range alerts and records you can export for an inspection in seconds.

Keep going

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