A cooling log records how fast a cooked food came down to cold-holding temperature, because cooked food that cools slowly gives bacteria hours at the temperatures they grow best. The FDA Food Code sets two stages for cooked foods that need temperature control: from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F or below within a total of 6 hours. Foods made from ingredients that started at room temperature, like a tuna salad, go to 41°F within 4 hours. A log line holds the food, the batch, the method, and the time it passed each temperature, so anyone can see whether it made both deadlines. The methods are in the Food Code too: shallow pans, smaller portions, an ice bath with stirring, ice as an ingredient, rapid cooling equipment, containers spaced so air moves and loosely covered. In the example below, a caterer logs two batches the day before a wedding and catches one that missed the first deadline.
The short version
- Cooked food: 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 6 hours in total.
- Food made from room-temperature ingredients: to 41°F within 4 hours.
- Start the clock when the food passes 135°F.
- Record the food, the method, and the time it reached 70°F and 41°F.
- Methods: shallow pans, smaller portions, an ice bath with stirring, ice as an ingredient, a blast chiller.
- Missed a deadline? Follow your plan's corrective action and write it down.
- TaroStack keeps your own fields on the batch record, for cooling times with the batch. More below.
What to record
| Column | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date and food | What it is and its batch |
| Method | Shallow pans, ice bath, ice wand, blast chiller |
| Time at 135°F | When the clock starts |
| Time and temperature at 2 hours | 70°F or below |
| Time it reached 41°F | Within 6 hours of the start |
| Result | Passed, or which deadline it missed |
| Action and initials | What was done if it missed |
How the kitchen's other temperatures are logged is in temperature log template, and the thermometers in thermometer calibration log.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Two-stage cooling | Cooked TCS food from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, to 41°F within a total of 6 (Food Code 2022, 3-501.14(A)) |
| Room-temperature ingredients | To 41°F within 4 hours (3-501.14(B)) |
| Methods | Shallow pans, smaller portions, rapid cooling equipment, an ice bath with stirring, ice as an ingredient; containers arranged for heat transfer and loosely covered (3-501.15) |
Your health department enforces its own version of the Food Code. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: two batches before a wedding
Datil Table Catering, a made-up caterer in St. Augustine, Florida, cooks from a rented commissary kitchen. On Thursday it made Minorcan clam chowder and shrimp stock for Saturday's wedding:
| Food | Method | 135°F | 70°F | 41°F | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clam chowder, 5 gal | Four shallow pans, 2 in deep, ice wand stirred | 2:20 pm | 4:05 pm, 1 h 45 min | 7:40 pm, 5 h 20 min | Passed |
| Shrimp stock, 3 gal | One deep stockpot in the walk-in | 3:00 pm | 82°F at 5:00 pm | Missed the 2-hour stage |
The stock went straight into the walk-in in its stockpot, too deep to cool in time, and read 82°F at the two-hour check. The caterer's plan for a missed first stage is to reheat to 165°F and start cooling again, which it did, this time in shallow pans over an ice bath: 135°F at 5:30 pm, 68°F at 7:10 pm, 40°F at 10:15 pm. Both deadlines made, both lines on the log, and the cook added "no stockpots in the walk-in" to the prep list. What a caterer's license covers is in catering license.
Get the template
Download the cooling log. One sheet: type the date, the food, whether it's cooked or made from room-temperature ingredients, the method, and the times it passed 135°F, 70°F and 41°F; the time each stage took and the result fill in, with misses in red. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The log is a separate sheet from the batch. When an inspector asks how Thursday's chowder was cooled, or a guest gets sick after the wedding, the cooling times need to be on the record of that batch, not on a clipboard by the walk-in.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the cooling times on the batch record of the food that was cooled.
Your own fields on the batch record. Fields of your own hold the time at 135°F, at 70°F and at 41°F, the method and who checked, filled in on a phone in the kitchen.
Printable batch records. Batch-record forms print with your own checklist fields and a sign-off, for the binder an inspector reads.
Lots and where they went. Each batch has a lot, and each event's order records the lots it took, so a question about Saturday's chowder leads to the batch and its cooling times.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling times for a batch | A sheet by the walk-in | Fields on the batch record |
| Who checked them | Initials, sometimes | Sign-off on the record |
| Which event got the batch | The event sheet | Lots on the order |
Batch records with your own fields and lots are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.