Freezing and chilling temperatures
My consultant in food safety allowed me to use 8 degrees and below as cooling temperatures and -12 and below as frozen temps.however am having issues in validating them since haven't seen any citation supporting it? any help,reference?
Thanks,
Lawrence
Hi, LARRYK, and welcome to the forums.
Local regulations may have more specifics in regards to cold storage limits, however it is generally practiced with few variances in the U.S. that cold storage is less than 4.4 and freezers less than -18. Freezing may be a CCP (or even a QCP with some schemes), if it is used for the destruction of parasites.
An example from FDA Hazards Guidance 2011:
The product is held at a cooler ambient air temperature of 40°F (4.4°C) or below.
An an example for GFSI (per SQF):
Refrigeration equipment shall have the capacity to maintain an ambient temperature at or below 5°C (40°F)except when loading or unloading product from the cooler unless other temperatures are prescribed bylegislation. During these operations, the ambient temperature must return to 5°C (40°F) within a short timeafter access doors are closed.Freezing and cold storage equipment shall have the capacity to maintain a product temperature below -15°C(5°F) and must be maintained during loading and unloading.A description of the refrigeration capacity needs to be included in the site plan. Verification may bedemonstrated through historical temperature recordings.Refrigeration facilities will be capable of reducing temperatures of product at rates suitable to maintain foodsafety and/or quality or as prescribed by legislation appropriate to the commodities being processed.
You may validate your own methods with shelf life and micro test if needed when lacking sufficient guidance.
I think your consultant may be thinking of figures based on a breakdown procedure. As Slab states above, 5'C is a good chilling temperature. 8'C is an acceptable breakdown temperature. Think of it this way, if you are running a chill at 8'C normally and you have a breakdown, what temperature will your product actually be kept at? Perhaps your consultant may have been talking to your MD who was complaining about chilling/freezing costs!
Hi Lawrence,
:welcome:
Some links you may find useful:
Five keys to safer food manual WHO
Generally standards are 34 - 40F (1- 5° C) for refrigerated storage and lower than 0F (-18°C) for frozen storage.
Regards,
Tony
My consultant in food safety allowed me to use 8 degrees and below as cooling temperatures and -12 and below as frozen temps.however am having issues in validating them since haven't seen any citation supporting it? any help,reference?
Thanks,
Lawrence
Hi larryk,
Thanks for yr question and Welcome to the Forum !
These temperatures can be found as maxima for some chilled-frozen activities / situations / locations but not others.
Can you clarify yr product / process / local regulatory requirements (if any) ?