# Food Safe Temperatures and Cooling Limits Chart (F and C)

> Source: https://netray.co/tools/food-safe-temperatures-and-cooling-limits-reference
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Free Tools

## Short answer

Critical temperature limits for cooking, holding, cooling and receiving, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

## Category

quality

## Industry

Food and Beverage Manufacturing

## Audience

- Food safety manager
- Production supervisor
- QA technician

## Tool

**Kind:** worksheet

**Mode:** reference

**Columns:**

#### Process step

**Key:** step

**Type:** text

#### Food or situation

**Key:** item

**Type:** text

#### Limit (F)

**Key:** limit_f

**Type:** text

#### Limit (C)

**Key:** limit_c

**Type:** text

#### Time or condition

**Key:** time

**Type:** text

#### Typical basis

**Key:** basis

**Type:** text

**Rows:**

#### Cooking

**Item:** Poultry, stuffed foods, stuffed pasta

**Limit f:** 165

**Limit c:** 74

**Time:** 15 seconds

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooking

**Item:** Ground beef, pork, other ground meat

**Limit f:** 155

**Limit c:** 68

**Time:** 17 seconds (USDA home guidance is 160 F with no hold)

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooking

**Item:** Whole cuts of beef, pork, veal, lamb, fish

**Limit f:** 145

**Limit c:** 63

**Time:** 15 seconds (USDA adds a 3 minute rest for whole cuts)

**Basis:** FDA Food Code, USDA

#### Cooking

**Item:** Eggs cooked for hot holding

**Limit f:** 155

**Limit c:** 68

**Time:** 17 seconds

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooking

**Item:** Raw fruits and vegetables cooked for hot holding

**Limit f:** 135

**Limit c:** 57

**Time:** No hold time

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Hot holding

**Item:** Cooked TCS food on a line or in a hot box

**Limit f:** 135 or above

**Limit c:** 57 or above

**Time:** Continuous

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cold holding

**Item:** TCS food in a cooler or display

**Limit f:** 41 or below

**Limit c:** 5 or below

**Time:** Continuous

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Danger zone

**Item:** Temperature range of fastest bacterial growth

**Limit f:** 41 to 135

**Limit c:** 5 to 57

**Time:** Keep total exposure within 4 hours cumulative

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooling

**Item:** Cooked food, first stage

**Limit f:** 135 to 70

**Limit c:** 57 to 21

**Time:** Within 2 hours

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooling

**Item:** Cooked food, second stage

**Limit f:** 70 to 41

**Limit c:** 21 to 5

**Time:** Within 4 more hours (6 hours total)

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Cooling

**Item:** Food made from ambient ingredients (for example canned tuna salad)

**Limit f:** 70 to 41

**Limit c:** 21 to 5

**Time:** Within 4 hours

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Reheating

**Item:** TCS food reheated for hot holding

**Limit f:** 165

**Limit c:** 74

**Time:** Within 2 hours

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Receiving

**Item:** Refrigerated TCS food on delivery

**Limit f:** 41 or below

**Limit c:** 5 or below

**Time:** At receipt (check product, not air)

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Receiving

**Item:** Frozen food on delivery

**Limit f:** Frozen solid

**Limit c:** Frozen solid

**Time:** No signs of thaw and refreeze

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

#### Receiving

**Item:** Live molluscan shellfish

**Limit f:** 45 ambient air, 50 internal

**Limit c:** 7 ambient air, 10 internal

**Time:** At receipt

**Basis:** FDA Food Code, NSSP

#### Frozen storage

**Item:** Frozen food storage target

**Limit f:** 0 or below

**Limit c:** -18 or below

**Time:** Continuous

**Basis:** Common industry practice

#### Thawing

**Item:** Refrigerator thaw

**Limit f:** 41 or below

**Limit c:** 5 or below

**Time:** Product stays at or below limit

**Basis:** FDA Food Code

**Notes:** Limits shown are widely published FDA Food Code and USDA values for planning. Your HACCP plan critical limits must be validated for your own product and process, and your regulator or customer may require stricter values.

## Content

**Intro:** When a floor supervisor needs to know the cooling limit or the hot hold minimum, they should not have to open a PDF of the full Food Code. This chart puts the common limits in one searchable table with both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

**Sections:**

#### How to use the chart

**Body:** Filter by process step to see every limit at cooking, holding, cooling, reheating or receiving. Use it to write critical limits into a HACCP plan, to set alarms on a blast chiller or hot box, and to train new line staff. Export the rows you need to Excel or PDF and attach them to the relevant monitoring log, so the number on the log matches the number in the plan.

**Bullets:**

- Always record the probe reading, not the equipment set point
- Calibrate thermometers against an ice point and boiling point on a schedule
- Write the time with the temperature, because time is half of every limit

#### Two-stage cooling explained

**Body:** The Food Code cooling rule has two clocks. Cooked food must fall from 135 F to 70 F within two hours, and from 70 F to 41 F within four more, for six hours total. The first stage matters most because the 70 to 125 F zone supports the fastest growth of spore formers such as Clostridium perfringens. If the first stage is missed, the food should be reheated to 165 F and cooled again or discarded according to your procedure.

#### Regulatory limit versus validated limit

**Body:** These numbers are baselines. For processes such as cook-chill, sous vide or large-mass products, a validated lethality study or a regulator-approved variance may justify different parameters. Retail rules in the Food Code and processing rules for plants under 21 CFR 117 or USDA FSIS differ, so confirm which authority and which customer standard apply to you.

#### Common mistakes

**Body:** Measuring surface temperature instead of the thickest part, cooling food in deep full pans, stacking containers in a blast chiller, ignoring the receiving check on frozen goods, and keeping logs that record only passes. A log with no corrective action entries across a year is more often a sign of weak monitoring than of perfect control.

**Cta:** Netray can help pull temperature log data and batch records out of your MES or ERP for review. The chart itself is free to use with no sign-up.

**Faq:**

#### What is the temperature danger zone?

**Answer:** In the FDA Food Code it is 41 F to 135 F (5 C to 57 C), the range where pathogens grow fastest in time and temperature control for safety foods. Food should spend as little time there as possible.

#### How fast must cooked food be cooled?

**Answer:** From 135 F to 70 F within two hours, then from 70 F to 41 F within four additional hours. That is six hours total, and the first two hours are the hard limit.

#### Is 160 F or 165 F correct for ground meat?

**Answer:** FDA Food Code lists 155 F for 17 seconds for ground meat in retail settings, and USDA consumer guidance is 160 F. Poultry is 165 F. Plants should use the validated critical limit in their own HACCP plan.

#### Do these limits apply to a manufacturing plant?

**Answer:** They are a common baseline, but plants follow 21 CFR 117 or USDA rules and their validated process. Use the chart for reference and confirm limits against your own process authority and validation study.

## Search terms

food safe temperature chart, danger zone 41 to 135, FDA food code cooking temperatures, cooling time 135 to 70, hot holding temperature, cold holding 41 F, internal cooking temperature poultry, critical limits CCP cooking

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