What is the danger zone for food is answered by the FSA's guidance cited below. The Food Standards Agency's cooking-your-food guidance, cited below, gives the danger zone as between 8 and 63°C, where bacterial growth occurs, and says leftovers must be cooled and put in the fridge within two hours and eaten within 48 hours. The same guidance gives the cooking standard as 70°C for 2 minutes, or the equivalents it lists, 75°C for 30 seconds among them. Below the zone is chilled storage. Above it is cooking and hot holding. Through it is cooling, limited by the time. The danger zone temperature log planner on this site prints the records for all three, sized to the kitchen, free and without an account.
Below the zone
Fridges below the zone's lower figure, read and recorded on the plan's schedule, with the action when a reading is over and the recheck after it. The plan's own fridge target sits below the limit so a door-opening does not breach it; the sheet carries the limit.
Above the zone
Cooking to the FSA's standard takes the food out of the zone; hot holding keeps it above the upper figure through service. Both are probed at the thickest part and recorded with the time and the initials on the hot food temperature check on this site.
Through the zone
Cooling, with the FSA's two hours as the limit for leftovers into the fridge, recorded with the start and finish times and the result. It is the record that shows the passage through the zone was short enough, and the one most kitchens do not keep until asked.
Why the records matter
The inspector scores the management of food safety on the records; a kitchen that keeps food out of the zone and cannot show it is scored on the gap. ProbeLedger Pro keeps the records; the planner prints them. FoodDocs lists its Lite plan at $99 per site per month billed monthly or $79 billed annually, and its Standard plan at $199 per site per month, with a free 14-day trial, on its pricing page cited below. ProbeLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole site.
Questions people ask about what is the danger zone for food
Is the danger zone different in the US?
The FDA gives its figures in Fahrenheit; the US pages on this site cite them.
What about room-temperature buffets?
Time in the zone is the hazard; the plan sets the limit and the record shows it.
Is the planner free?
Yes, without an account.