Temperatures
- Every refrigerator holds food at 5 °C or below, or the limit in your plan; check product, not just the display.
- Every freezer holds food at −18 °C or below.
- Display cases holding high-risk food are within limits at the front and the top, not just at the sensor.
- There is a working, calibrated probe thermometer on site, and staff know how to use it.
- Hot food is not cooling in refrigerators in deep pots.
Records
FSSAI's published Schedule 4 expects records to be kept for one year or the product's shelf life, whichever is more; check the current text for your business.
| Record | What a reviewer looks for |
|---|---|
| Temperature logs | Readings at regular times, real values, initials, and actions recorded for every out-of-limit reading |
| Corrective actions | What was done with the food and the equipment, and who decided |
| Cooling logs | Start, 2-hour and final temperatures for cooled food |
| Thermometer checks | Regular calibration checks, such as ice-point tests |
| Cleaning schedules | Fridges, seals, drains and cold rooms cleaned as scheduled, signed off |
| Maintenance and service | Condenser cleaning, gasket replacement, technician visits |
| Purchase and receiving records | Supplier details and receiving temperatures for chilled and frozen deliveries |
Storage order and separation
- Ready-to-eat and cooked food above raw food; raw meat, poultry and fish at the bottom or in a separate unit.
- Vegetarian and non-vegetarian food segregated, with veg above non-veg where they share a unit.
- All food covered, in food-grade containers.
- Nothing stored on the floor of a cold room; racks keep food off the floor and away from walls.
- Rejected or returned stock separated and clearly marked.
- No cleaning chemicals or non-food items in food refrigerators.
Labels and rotation
- Every container has a name, preparation or opening date and a use-by date.
- Thawing items are labelled with the defrost date.
- Nothing in storage is past its use-by or expiry date.
- Older stock is at the front; FIFO and FEFO are visibly in use.
Equipment condition and cleanliness
- Interiors, shelves and door gaskets are clean, with no mould, food residue or ice build-up.
- Door gaskets seal fully with no tears.
- Drip trays and drains are clean and not overflowing.
- Condensers are free of heavy dust and grease.
- Cold-room floors are clean and dry, doors close properly and internal lighting works.
- No signs of pests around or under units.
People
Inspectors often ask staff simple questions: what temperature should this fridge be? What do you do if it is warmer? Where does raw chicken go? Staff who can answer show that the system lives beyond the paperwork. FSSAI's FoSTaC programme states that businesses with a Central or State licence must have at least one trained and certified Food Safety Supervisor for every 25 food handlers or part thereof; make sure that person knows the cold-storage procedures in detail.
Run your own inspection
Use this checklist for a weekly walk-round by the supervisor or manager. Open every unit, take a product temperature, check five labels at random, look at the gaskets and read back through the week's logs. Fix what you find, record it, and the real inspection becomes routine.
Frequently asked questions
- What do inspectors look at first in a refrigerator?
- Commonly the temperature, how food is stored and separated, whether containers are covered and labelled, and whether anything is out of date. They then look at the logs to see whether what they found is typical.
- Is a display thermometer reading enough evidence?
- It shows the air temperature at the sensor. Inspectors may probe food or ask you to. A calibrated probe thermometer and a habit of checking product temperature give stronger evidence that food is being held safely.
- What if a unit is running warm on the day of an inspection?
- Deal with it the way your procedure says and record it: probe the food, move or discard high-risk items as your plan requires, find the cause and call for service if needed. A documented, sensible response to a fault shows the system is working; hiding it does not.
