Food Safety: Fridge Storage

Organising where food ingredients go in a fridge isn’t arbitrary - it’s intended to keep your ingredients fresher for longer and ensure the best possible food safety fridge storage. This is particularly important if you work in a food establishment that serves food to the public.

In this article, we explain the proper way of storing food safely so that you know the best way to organise all your ingredients and keep everything fresh for as long as possible.

Remember, if you need extra guidance on how to store and prepare food properly, we offer fully online food safety certification

How to Store Food in a Fridge

Fridge storage is a more complicated issue than you might think. Not only are there slight temperature differences at different levels, but refrigerated food doesn’t last as long and is much more likely to contaminate other products around it if left for too long. 

This is also why it’s so vital that your fridge must be kept between 0°C and 5°C as part of health and safety legislation to slow bacterial growth and keep food safe.

While it might not seem like a big issue, when you’re working in a commercial kitchen, storage space is limited and must be optimised in order to achieve the best possible food safety fridge storage and avoid spoiled food or sick customers. We’ll take you through how.

Top Shelf

Store: Dairy products, yoghurt, cheese, ready-to-eat foods, pre-prepared foods and leftovers that don't need reheating.

The top shelf of a fridge should always be used to store food that is ready to eat. This includes dairy products like yoghurt and cheese and any pre-prepared food or leftovers that don’t need to be reheated before serving.

Ready to eat food is stored at the top of the fridge so that it will not be contaminated by any other ingredients that may drip down onto it. Because this food won’t be cooked before it is eaten, it poses the biggest risk if it becomes contaminated as there is no way that bacteria could get killed before it is consumed.

Anything stored on the top shelf should be kept inside a sealed container, especially if it has already been opened and partially used.

Middle Shelves

Store: Butter, refrigerated desserts, tubs of sauce or dressing, deli meats, hot-held food, cooked food waiting to be served.

You should keep similar food on the middle shelves of the fridge as you do on the top shelf. Things like butter, refrigerated desserts, tubs of sauce or dressing and deli meats should be kept in the middle of the fridge, again ensuring that they are all properly sealed when they go in. So if you’ve been wondering where cooked meats go in the fridge vs. raw meat, the middle shelf is the answer.

As a general rule, food that has been opened should go on the top shelf, whilst ready to eat food that is still sealed can be stored on the level below this. When dealing with storing food storage fridge safety on a large scale (like a professional kitchen), remember to add new items to the back of a shelf and bring older items to the front so that they are used first and don’t end up being forgotten and going off.

Correct fridge storage guidance also recommends that hot-held food is stored on the middle shelves of a refrigerator. Hot-held food is anything that has already been prepared and is going to be heated and then kept at a high temperature as it is served, and it’s important to only reheat these products once and not put them back into a fridge if they have already been heated up again.

Bottom Shelf

Store: Raw meat, raw fish, raw poultry and any other foods that require the highest cooking temperatures.

Have you found yourself wondering where should raw meat be kept in a refrigerator? The bottom shelf is the answer for both meat and fish. This is because ingredients that have the highest cooking temperature should be stored on the bottom shelf as it’s the coldest part of the fridge. 

There’s also a secondary benefit that if any liquids drip from meat or fish they won’t drip onto other foods on shelves below, controlling the risk of accidental contamination.

This is also why food storage guidelines suggest that you keep all raw meat and fish in carefully sealed bags or containers.

Drawers

Store: Fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and salad items.

Whilst not a feature of all kinds of refrigerators, many models have drawers at the bottom that offer an alternate method of storage. The general recommendation is that fridge drawers should be used to store fresh fruit and vegetables. These should be kept in their original packaging to prevent contamination or should be washed if they are loose before putting them in the drawers. Remember to regularly empty and clean your fridge drawers so that you avoid any bacteria building up and contaminating new foods that get put in the fridge.

Some people choose to use their fridge drawers to store raw meat, particularly if they only have a small quantity compared to all their fruit and veg. This is fine for small fridges in domestic settings, but storing raw meat on the bottom shelf is a better idea for large fridges in commercial kitchen environments.

Door Shelves

Store: Juices, jams, condiments, sauces, drinks and items with natural preservatives.

Industrial fridges don’t tend to have door shelves, but many models do as a way of offering more storage space. The shelves on a fridge door are the warmest part because of the frequency that it gets opened, which means that you shouldn’t store anything here that needs to be kept at the same low temperature to remain safe to eat.

You should store products that have natural preservatives in them in a fridge door, as these are much less likely to be affected by changing temperatures. Items like juice, jams and condiments are ideal candidates, along with products that you are just keeping cool for a short time or don’t actually need to be refrigerated.

How long can you store food in the fridge?

Knowing how long different foods can safely remain in your refrigerator is essential for preventing foodborne illness and reducing food waste. Use this guide to help manage your refrigerated foods effectively.

Meat and Poultry

Seafood

Dairy Products

Ready-to-Eat and Prepared Foods

Remember, these timeframes apply to properly stored foods in a refrigerator kept at 0 - 5°C. While it might be tempting to rely on how food looks or smells to decide if it's still good, this isn't a safe approach. 

The truth is that harmful bacteria don't usually make high risk food look, smell or taste any different. That's why sticking to these storage times is so important - they're your best protection against food poisoning, even when the food seems perfectly fine.

FAQs

Where should raw meat be stored in a refrigerator?

The recommended place to store raw meat in a fridge is the bottom shelf. Ideally, it should be stored in a sealed container or plastic bag so that it won’t contaminate any of the other ingredients in the fridge and ensure that all the food is safe to eat. You should try not to store any other products on the same shelf as raw meat if possible for the same reason.

How long can you store cooked food in the fridge?

The general recommendation for storing cooked food is that it shouldn't be kept in the fridge for more than three to four days. Cooked food should also always be properly cooled down before putting it in the fridge and stored in an airtight container to ensure that it stays fresh for as long as possible.

Should raw food be stored below cooked food?

As a general rule, raw food should always be stored below everything else in the fridge, so cooked food should be kept above it if you have both in your fridge. This is mainly to prevent the raw food, meat in particular, from dripping down onto any other ingredient, which could cause food poisoning. 

What should I do if there's a power cut?

During a power cut, keep your fridge door closed as much as possible - an unopened fridge will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours. Once power returns, check if your perishable foods have been above 8°C for more than 2 hours. If they have, it's safest to throw them away.

A full freezer will stay frozen for about 48 hours with the door closed (24 hours if half-full). Foods that still have ice crystals can be safely refrozen, though the quality might not be as good.

Remember, when you're not sure if food is still safe, it's always better to be cautious and throw it away rather than risk getting sick.

Can I freeze food that’s approaching its use-by date?

Yes, you can freeze food before its use-by date expires. It’s like pressing the pause button. Just make sure you freeze it before midnight on the use-by date. 

When you're ready to use the food, defrost it thoroughly in the fridge and use it within 24 hours. One important rule to remember is not to refreeze food that's been completely thawed unless you've cooked it first.

What's the proper way to cool hot food before refrigeration?

Cooling hot food quickly is important before putting it in the fridge. To speed up cooling:

• Split large portions into smaller, shallower containers
• For a quick cool-down, place your food container in a bowl of ice water
• Let very hot food sit out for no more than 30 minutes before refrigerating
• Never put piping hot food straight into the fridge – this can warm up your other foods

Aim to get hot food cooled to room temperature within 90 minutes before storing it in the fridge. This keeps your food out of the "danger zone" temperature range where bacteria grow fastest.

Summary

Learning the principles of food safety fridge storage might seem like a menial task, but it can make a massive difference to the quality of your ingredients and how long they last. If you work in an environment where food is manufactured, handled, prepared and served, storing food safely is essential in ensuring that your customers aren’t at risk from food poisoning and that your business complies with relevant food safety legislation.

If you’d like to learn more about health and safety in the kitchen, we cover this topic and more in our ‘Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene for Catering’ which is RoSPA assured.