What goes on each shelf?
- Top: ready-to-eat food (salads, desserts, cut fruit, cooked leftovers, deli meat, cheese, drinks)
- Raw fish and seafood (cooked to 145°F)
- Whole cuts of beef, pork and lamb; raw shell eggs (145°F)
- Ground meat and ground fish (155°F)
- Bottom: raw poultry and stuffed foods (165°F)
Raw meat sits in a pan or sealed container even on the right shelf.
Sources: Food Code 3-302.11 · Source protocols: refrigerator and cooler stacking order
Do raw beef and raw chicken have to be kept apart?
Raw beef, pork, lamb, fish and poultry are kept apart from each other, not just from ready-to-eat food. Use at least one:
- Separate containers, shelves or coolers for each type
- Separate boards, knives, tongs and platters for each type
- Separate times: prep one type, then wash, rinse and sanitize, change gloves and wash hands before the next
Never put cooked meat back on a platter that held raw meat. Never reuse a raw-meat marinade as a sauce unless it's boiled first.
Sources: Food Code 3-302.11(A)(2) · Source protocols: separate raw meat types from each other
How cold should the fridge and freezer be?
- Fridge at 41°F or below; freezer at 0°F or below.
- Leave space for cold air. Don't block the vents.
- Raw meat goes below ready-to-eat food in the freezer too.
- Label and date premade food and leftovers.
Sources: Food Code 3-501.16 · Source protocols: freezer organization and FIFO
Where can food never be stored?
- Keep food at least 6 inches off the floor.
- Never in restrooms, locker or dressing rooms, garbage rooms, or mechanical rooms (furnace, water heater, electrical).
- Never under stairs, or under sewer lines, leaking water lines or fire sprinkler lines.
Sources: Food Code 3-305.11 · Food Code 3-305.12
The rules behind it
- Storage order and separation. Ready-to-eat on top, then fish, whole cuts, ground meat, poultry on the bottom; raw meat types kept apart; food and cups, lids and paper goods 6 inches off the floor (cases on a pallet, dolly or rack can sit lower; cased cans and bottles, and milk in crates, can sit on a clean, dry floor); never in toilet, locker, dressing, garbage or mechanical rooms, or under an unshielded sewer line, a leaking or sweating water line or open stairs (food trucks: Utah R392-102-11(15), (16)). Between uses, an in-use utensil rests in one of the six places the Code lists (3-304.12: in the food with the handle up, a closed bin of dry food, a clean sanitized spot, running water, a clean protected spot for a scoop of food that is not TCS food, or water at 135°F or above); single-service articles stay in the package or covered and are handled by the handle or base (4-904.11). Food Code 3-302.11, 3-305.11, 3-305.12, 3-304.12, 4-903.11, 4-903.12, 4-904.11; R392-102-11(15), (16), R392-102-9(16); docs/source/research/hygiene-and-kits.md DS1-DS9