Tuesday 15 September 2026 · 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Join Liam Jones, founder of Pilla and a qualified food safety consultant, for a session on food cooling temperature checks.

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Understand

Poor cooling is a common cause of food poisoning outbreaks because food spends too long in the temperature danger zone. Some bacteria produce toxins during cooling that are not destroyed by reheating, so even properly reheated food can cause illness if it was not cooled correctly.

UK guidance recommends cooling from above 63°C to below 8°C within 90 minutes. An alternative two-stage method allows 2 hours to reach 21°C, then 4 hours to reach 5°C, a total of 6 hours maximum. Blast chillers are the most effective method, cooling food in 30-60 minutes. Ice baths work well for liquids. Dividing food into shallow containers no more than 50mm deep increases surface area and speeds cooling. Ice paddles are ideal for stirrable soups and sauces.

Large quantities of hot food should never be placed directly in a standard fridge. This raises the fridge temperature (affecting other stored food), creates condensation that can drip onto other items, and cools very slowly because the fridge does not have the capacity to chill them. Rice needs extra attention because Bacillus cereus, a bacterium commonly found in rice, produces toxins during cooling that survive reheating. Rice should be cooled within 1 hour (faster than other foods), spread in thin layers, refrigerated as soon as it stops steaming, and used within 24 hours.

Apply

See how food cooling temperature checks fit into your wider food safety management system in Pilla. We walk through how to build this into your system so that your team has clear processes, accountability, and a documented trail that proves compliance.

Automate

Learn how AI can speed up this process and connect Pilla to your other tools, giving you a much more joined up system across your business.

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Bring your questions , we'll be answering them live throughout.