Fridge Temperature in NZ: What Commercial Kitchens Log

Why 5°C? Because of the temperature danger zone

Harmful bacteria grow quickly between 5°C and 60°C — the range MPI's Simply Safe & Suitable template calls the danger zone. Keeping food at 5°C or below slows that growth right down, which is why the template's "Keeping food cold" card tells operators to check daily that the food in the fridge is being kept at 5°C or lower (SS&S template FCP, Green Card).

The same card sets out the 2-hour/4-hour rule for chilled food that has spent time in the danger zone:

So the daily fridge check isn't paperwork for its own sake: it's how you know your chilled stock never quietly drifted into the zone where those decisions start applying.

Fridge temperature or food temperature — which do you record?

The food's. The record that matters under MPI's Record keeping guidance (February 2026) is the daily fridge/chiller temperature check — specifically the temperature of the food in your fridge, listed as a mandatory record. The template plan is blunt about why: you cannot rely on the temperature shown on your fridge or chiller display.

The template accepts three ways to monitor it — a calibrated probe thermometer in food or a stand-in (like a container of water), a calibrated infrared thermometer reading the food's surface, or a calibrated automated monitoring system.

How often should you check fridge temperatures?

Daily is the norm the mandatory record is built on. The SS&S template's "Keeping food cold" card asks for a daily check that food is at 5°C or lower, and MPI's February 2026 Record List makes daily fridge/chiller temperature checks a mandatory record (Record keeping guidance, Feb 2026). Your registered plan sets your exact rhythm — many kitchens fold the check into opening tasks, and busier sites add an afternoon reading for early warning.

Whatever the rhythm, each entry has to stand up as a record: accurate, dated, showing what was checked and who checked it, available when your verifier or MPI asks, and kept for at least 4 years (regulations 36 and 81, Food Regulations 2015). At your verification visit, the template expects you to show both how you check temperatures and the record of those checks.

What to do when the fridge reads over 5°C

Deal with the food first, then record what happened. Use the 2-hour/4-hour rule above to decide whether food is served, used immediately, or thrown out, and sort the cause — a door left ajar, an overloaded shelf, a failing unit. Then write it up as a corrective action: what went wrong, how you fixed it, and how you'll prevent it. That "when something goes wrong" write-up is itself a mandatory record under MPI's February 2026 Record keeping guidance.

An out-of-range reading with a clear corrective action next to it reads far better at a verification visit than a suspiciously perfect column of 4°C entries. Verifiers know fridges have bad days; what they want to see is that you noticed and acted. In the KitchenSorted app, an over-5°C entry is flagged the moment it's logged and the corrective action is attached to that same entry, so the story stays together.

Thermometer calibration: the check is required, logging the numbers is optional

Your temperature log is only as good as the thermometer behind it, so the template plan expects monitoring equipment to be calibrated, and self-calibrating your own thermometer sits inside the mandatory equipment-maintenance record in MPI's Record keeping guidance (February 2026). The nuance most people miss: recording the results of each thermometer calibration is optional under the same guidance — doing and noting the calibration as maintenance is the required part; the column of calibration readings is not.

Optional doesn't mean pointless — a dated calibration entry is quick evidence that your readings can be trusted. It just means nobody should tell you a missing results column is a breach.

The easiest ways to log fridge temperatures

Paper is completely legal and MPI supplies record blanks for exactly this — the only argument against it is friction. Digital record-keeping is equally accepted: MPI's February 2026 guidance lists spreadsheets, online forms and phone-accessible storage among the ways to keep records (more on keeping food safety records digitally).

Fridge temperature FAQs

Is 6°C too warm for a commercial fridge?

Food at 6°C is inside the 5°C–60°C danger zone, so treat it as out of range: work out how long the food has been above 5°C, apply the 2-hour/4-hour rule, fix the cause, and record the corrective action. A one-off 6°C reading handled properly is a normal day in a kitchen — ignoring it is the problem.

Do I have to record freezer temperatures in NZ?

Under the Simply Safe & Suitable template, no — you check that food in the freezer is still frozen, and the template states you do not have to record the frozen food's temperature. Logging your freezer reading anyway is easy extra evidence, which is why our log sheet and app both leave room for it.

Can I keep my fridge temperature log on my phone?

Yes. MPI's February 2026 record-keeping guidance lists digital methods — spreadsheets, online forms, online storage you reach from your phone — as acceptable, as long as records stay accurate, dated, attributable and available for 4 years. Here's the full picture on digital records, and what KitchenSorted's free plan includes.