Time and Temperature Control for Food Safety
Cook, hold, cool, reheat and thaw food at safe temperatures, and use a thermometer to prove it.
Table of contents
Germs in food need time and warmth to multiply. If you control those two things, you control most of the risk. This guide gives you the numbers a food worker uses every shift and the reasons behind them.
The figures here come from the FDA Food Code, using the 2026 edition. The Food Code is a model, not a national law. Your state or local code is what your inspector enforces, and it may be based on an older edition or have its own changes. If your local rule differs from a number here, follow the local rule.
What You Will Be Able to Do
- Use a food thermometer correctly and check that it's accurate.
- State the cooking temperature for common foods.
- Keep hot and cold food at safe holding temperatures.
- Cool cooked food fast enough, and know what to do when it falls behind.
- Reheat and thaw food the right way.
The Temperature Danger Zone
The range between 41°F and 135°F (5°C to 57°C) is called the temperature danger zone. Germs can grow quickly in this range. USDA consumer advice uses 40°F to 140°F, which is why you may see both ranges quoted. In a food business, use the numbers in your local code.
Food that is cooked, cooled and reheated passes through the zone several times, so the time adds up. A common training rule is that TCS food, the time/temperature control for safety foods such as meat, dairy, cooked rice and cut melon, should not spend more than 4 hours in total in the danger zone. After that, throw it out. This total is a teaching rule rather than a single section of the Food Code, but it matches how the code limits time out of temperature control, and it is a safe way to work.
Using a Thermometer
You cannot judge doneness by color. Ground beef can turn brown before it is safe, and chicken juices can run clear while it is undercooked.
| Thermometer | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bimetallic stemmed | Large or thick foods | Insert past the dimple on the stem, wait for the needle to settle |
| Thermocouple or digital probe | Most foods, including thin ones | Fast reading, usually a few seconds |
| Infrared | Surface temperatures only | Cannot read internal temperature, so it cannot prove food is cooked |
To take a temperature:
- Clean and sanitize the probe.
- Insert it into the thickest part of the food, away from bone, fat and the pan.
- Wait for a stable reading. Allow at least 15 seconds for a bimetallic stem, and at least 5 seconds for a digital probe unless the manufacturer says otherwise.
- Check more than one spot in large or uneven items.
- Clean and sanitize the probe again before using it on another food.
- Record the reading if your workplace keeps a log.
Calibrating with the Ice-Point Method
Check accuracy regularly and after a thermometer is dropped.
- Fill a container with crushed ice and add just enough cold water to make a slush.
- Stir, then put the stem or probe in so that the sensing area is fully covered, without touching the sides or bottom.
- Wait until the reading stops moving. It should read 32°F (0°C).
- If it does not, adjust the calibration nut or the reset button, or replace the thermometer if it cannot be adjusted.
Cooking Temperatures
These are the minimum internal temperatures in the Food Code. Hold time matters as well: the food must stay at that temperature for the time shown.
| Food | Minimum temperature and time |
|---|---|
| Poultry, stuffed meat or fish, stuffing, stuffed pasta | 165°F (74°C), instantaneous |
| Ground or comminuted meat and fish, injected or mechanically tenderized meat | 155°F (68°C) for 17 seconds |
| Eggs cooked for later service, such as a buffet | 155°F (68°C) for 17 seconds |
| Whole-muscle meat such as steaks and chops, and fish | 145°F (63°C) for 15 seconds |
| Eggs cooked to order for immediate service | 145°F (63°C) for 15 seconds |
| Whole roasts of beef, pork, lamb, or ham | 145°F (63°C) for 4 minutes |
| Fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes for hot holding | 135°F (57°C) |
| Raw animal food cooked in a microwave | 165°F (74°C) in all parts, covered, rotated or stirred, then stand 2 minutes |
Roasts have other allowed time and temperature combinations depending on the oven and the temperature reached, so check your code if you cook them. Ground meat also has alternatives, such as 158°F with no hold time.
USDA's advice to home cooks is slightly different, such as 160°F for ground beef, and it includes a 3-minute rest for whole cuts. Commercial operations follow the Food Code as adopted locally, but the difference explains why you may see other numbers on packaging.
If a guest orders a burger rare or an egg runny, most codes allow it only with a consumer advisory on the menu telling people about the risk. In facilities serving highly susceptible people, such as hospitals and nursing homes, many undercooked foods cannot be served at all.
Holding Food
- Hot holding: 135°F (57°C) or above.
- Cold holding: 41°F (5°C) or below.
Check held food with a thermometer at least every 2 to 4 hours, or as often as your workplace requires. If you check every 2 hours, you have time left to correct a problem. Stir foods on a steam table so that heat stays even, and keep lids on.
Time as a Public Health Control
Some operations hold food without temperature control, such as a pizza buffet. The Food Code calls this time as a public health control, and it needs written procedures in advance. Some jurisdictions also require approval. In the most common form:
- The food starts at 41°F or below, or at 135°F or above.
- Staff mark it with the time that is 4 hours after it left temperature control.
- It is served, sold or thrown away by that time.
- It is not put back under temperature control to be used later.
A separate 6-hour option exists for cold food that stays at 70°F or below. Not every food can use time as a control, and it is not allowed for some foods served to highly susceptible people. You can't decide to use this partway through a shift to save a pan of food.
Cooling Cooked Food
Slow cooling is one of the most common causes of outbreaks, because large batches stay in the danger zone for hours.
The Food Code sets two limits for cooked TCS food:
- From 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours.
- From 135°F to 41°F within a total of 6 hours.
If the first stage takes the full 2 hours, you have 4 hours left to reach 41°F. If you reach 70°F faster, the rest of the 6-hour total is still available.
Food made from room-temperature ingredients, such as canned tuna salad, must reach 41°F within 4 hours.
Worked example. A pot of chili leaves the stove at 135°F at 1:00 p.m. It must reach 70°F by 3:00 p.m. and 41°F by 7:00 p.m. At 2:45 p.m., it reads 82°F. You are close to the limit, so divide it into shallow pans and put them in an ice bath. If it isn't at 70°F by 3:00 p.m., it has missed the limit. Reheat it to 165°F and start the cooling over, or throw it out, as your local code and your person in charge direct.
Ways to Cool Food Faster
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Shallow pans | Spread food thin. The 2026 Food Code lists a depth of no more than 2 inches as a method |
| Smaller portions | Divide large batches or cut roasts into smaller pieces |
| Ice water bath | Set the pot in ice water and stir often |
| Ice paddle | Stir with a frozen plastic paddle |
| Ice as an ingredient | Use it in soups and sauces where added water is part of the recipe |
| Blast chiller | Commercial equipment made for rapid cooling |
Leave food uncovered or loosely covered while it cools, if it's protected from overhead contamination. A tight lid traps heat.
The 2026 Food Code also adds an alternative that your regulator must approve. Cooked food can cool uncovered, no more than 2 inches deep, in a refrigerator that holds 41°F or below and has an electronic system that continuously monitors time and air temperature. Use it only if your local code has adopted it and your operation has approval.
Warning: Do not put a large, hot stockpot straight into the walk-in. The center can stay in the danger zone for many hours, and the pot warms everything around it.
Reheating Food
Reheating for hot holding has to be fast.
- Food cooked and cooled in your kitchen must reach 165°F (74°C) for 15 seconds in all parts, within 2 hours.
- In a microwave, it must reach 165°F, be rotated or stirred and covered, and stand covered for 2 minutes.
- Ready-to-eat food from an inspected plant, such as canned soup, must reach at least 135°F within 2 hours.
Reheat on a stove, in an oven or in a microwave. Steam tables and warmers are built to hold food. They heat too slowly to get food through the danger zone in time.
Thawing Food
Freezing slows germs, but it does not kill most of them. As food thaws, its surface can warm long before the center does.
Safe ways to thaw:
- In a refrigerator, keeping the food at 41°F or below.
- Completely under cold running water at 70°F or below. The water must keep flowing, and the food must stay out of the danger zone for the limits in your code.
- As part of cooking, such as frozen burger patties going straight onto the grill.
- In a microwave, if the food goes straight into cooking afterward.
Never thaw on a counter at room temperature. The outside can sit in the danger zone for hours while the center stays frozen.
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Judging doneness by color | Undercooked food reaches a guest |
| Probing near a bone or the pan | A false reading |
| Using a steam table to reheat | Food stays too long in the danger zone |
| Cooling in a deep, covered pot | Food fails the 2-hour limit |
| Checking holding temperatures once per shift | A failed unit is not discovered until it's too late |
| Thawing on the counter | The surface stays warm for hours |
Check Your Understanding
1. A steam table pan of mashed potatoes reads 128°F. You last checked it at 135°F an hour ago. What do you do?
Tell the person in charge. Since it has been out of range for less than 2 hours, it can usually be reheated to 165°F and returned to a working unit. Get the steam table checked.
2. You pull a tray of chicken thighs. The probe reads 161°F in the thickest part. Are they done?
No. Poultry needs 165°F. Keep cooking and test again.
3. It is 4:00 p.m. A soup you began cooling at 2:00 p.m. reads 88°F. What is the problem, and what are your options?
It missed the limit of 70°F within 2 hours. Reheat it to 165°F and cool it again using a faster method, or discard it, following your code and your person in charge.
4. A cook wants to reheat yesterday's chili by putting it cold into the steam table. Why is this wrong?
Steam tables hold heat rather than reheat. The chili would take too long to reach 165°F. It should go on the stove first, then into the steam table.
Key Takeaways
- The danger zone is 41°F to 135°F in the Food Code. Your local code is the rule that applies.
- Use a calibrated thermometer in the thickest part of the food. Never judge by color.
- Know your cooking minimums: 165°F for poultry, 155°F for 17 seconds for ground meat, 145°F for 15 seconds for steaks and fish, and 145°F for 4 minutes for roasts.
- Hold hot food at 135°F or above and cold food at 41°F or below.
- Cool from 135°F to 70°F in 2 hours and to 41°F within 6 hours total.
- Reheat to 165°F within 2 hours, and thaw only in a refrigerator, under cold running water, or as part of cooking.