Food danger zone: Food Temperature Rules
The Food Temperature Rules carries 2 published figures read from 4 sources' own pages, from 2 to 2 hour, read 26 September 2026.
ProbeLedger sells its own paid plan in this category (our pricing). It is not counted here: every figure in this index is another provider's own published price, read from its own page.
4 of the 19 named sources read in full publish a figure; 15 publish none, read 26 September 2026.
By step
| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| stephold out of refrigeration | 2hour | 2 to 2hour | 1 |
| stepthaw | 3day | 3 to 3day | 1 |
| stepleftover storage | 4day | 4 to 4day | 1 |
| stephot-hold | 2hour | 2 to 2hour | 1 |
Every figure, with its source
One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA FSIS, leftovers and food safety | 4day | leftover storage | 2026-09-26 |
| FoodSafety.gov, meat and poultry roasting charts | 3day | thaw | 2026-09-26 |
| USDA FSIS, "Danger Zone" (40F - 140F) | 2hour | hold out of refrigeration | 2026-09-26 |
| FSANZ, food temperature and thermometers | 2hour | hot-hold | 2026-09-26 |
The sentence each figure was read from (4)
- USDA FSIS, leftovers and food safety, read 2026-09-26:
Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or frozen for 3 to 4 months.
- FoodSafety.gov, meat and poultry roasting charts, read 2026-09-26:
1 to 3 days 2 to 6 hours
- USDA FSIS, "Danger Zone" (40F - 140F), read 2026-09-26:
Never leave food out of refrigeration over 2 hours. If the temperature is above 90 °F, food should not be left out more than 1 hour.
- FSANZ, food temperature and thermometers, read 2026-09-26:
Less than 2 hours Refrigerate or use immediately Between 2 hours and 4 hours Use immediately
Read in full, publishes no figure
15 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- USDA FSIS, safe minimum internal temperature chart, read 2026-09-26: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- USDA FSIS, how temperatures affect food, read 2026-09-26: every candidate on the page was refused
- FoodSafety.gov, food safety charts, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- FoodSafety.gov, safe minimum cooking temperature chart, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- GOV.UK, food hygiene for businesses: chilling and freezing, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- GOV.UK, food hygiene for businesses: cooking food safely, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- FSAI, temperature control for caterers, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- FSAI, cooking and reheating, read 2026-09-26: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- NSW Food Authority, managing potentially hazardous foods, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- Health Canada, safe internal cooking temperatures, read 2026-09-26: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- Health Canada, safe internal temperatures infographic, read 2026-09-26: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- MPI New Zealand, safe food preparation, cooking and storage, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- FDA, safe minimum internal temperatures (chart PDF), read 2026-09-19: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- NSW Food Authority, the 2-hour/4-hour rule (PDF), read 2026-09-27: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- the temperature authority per jurisdiction, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
Methodology
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).
4 of the 19 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 15 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in hour (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 22 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.
The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per jurisdiction per step (cook, hot-hold, chill, freeze, cool, reheat) and per named food, quoted from the authority in its own unit with both conversions and the effective date; the derivation nobody publishes is the DISAGREEMENT across authorities - the danger zone is 40-140F in the US and 5-60C in Australia, GB chilled storage is a legal 8C while the FSA advises 5C, cooking is 70C for two minutes in GB against 75C instantaneous in Ireland and 145F for fish in the US Food Code - so the table carries, per food and per step, the highest and lowest figure any authority states and which jurisdictions sit where; changed-since on each authority's revision
22 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (19)
- USDA FSIS, "Danger Zone" (40F - 140F)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- USDA FSIS, safe minimum internal temperature chart(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- USDA FSIS, leftovers and food safety(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- USDA FSIS, how temperatures affect food(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FoodSafety.gov, food safety charts(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FoodSafety.gov, safe minimum cooking temperature chart(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FoodSafety.gov, meat and poultry roasting charts(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- GOV.UK, food hygiene for businesses: chilling and freezing(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- GOV.UK, food hygiene for businesses: cooking food safely(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FSAI, temperature control for caterers(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FSAI, cooking and reheating(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FSANZ, food temperature and thermometers(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NSW Food Authority, managing potentially hazardous foods(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Health Canada, safe internal cooking temperatures(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Health Canada, safe internal temperatures infographic(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- MPI New Zealand, safe food preparation, cooking and storage(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FDA, safe minimum internal temperatures (chart PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NSW Food Authority, the 2-hour/4-hour rule (PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- the temperature authority per jurisdiction(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
Cite or embed this figure
The Food Temperature Rules carries 2 published figures read from 4 sources' own pages, from 2 to 2 hour, read 26 September 2026.
4 of the 19 named sources read in full publish a figure; 15 publish none, read 26 September 2026.
Food Temperature Rules, step hold out of refrigeration: median 2 hour across 1 source, read 26 September 2026.
Food Temperature Rules, step thaw: median 3 day across 1 source, read 26 September 2026.
Food Temperature Rules, step leftover storage: median 4 day across 1 source, read 26 September 2026.
Food Temperature Rules, step hot-hold: median 2 hour across 1 source, read 26 September 2026.
Cite as: "ProbeLedger Food Temperature Rules", updated 2026-10-05, https://probeledger.com/datasets/food-temperature-rules/.
Download the CSV (4 rows, computed 2026-10-05)