FSSAI Food Temperature Chart

Why Indian kitchens keep quoting the wrong chart

Walk into ten Indian kitchens and at least one has a laminated temperature chart telling staff to keep the fridge below 40 degrees. That chart is American. It uses Fahrenheit and the US FDA's 40°F rule, which is exactly why it confuses Indian kitchens: FSSAI works in Celsius, with different thresholds, published in its Guidance Document on Food Safety Management Systems for catering establishments (2018).

This page is that reference, compressed. Every number below comes from FSSAI material, laid out zone by zone so you can screenshot a section and stick it on the walk-in door before tomorrow's shift. For the hot-holding corrective action, use FSSAI's exact operational direction for catering establishments.

The FSSAI temperature danger zone: 5°C to 60°C

Bacteria multiply fastest between 5°C and 60°C, so FSSAI training material calls this band the danger zone. Food should pass through it quickly and never sit in it.

One nuance catches people out. FSSAI's operational catering standard sets the hot-holding threshold at 65°C, not 60°C. The clean way to run your line: keep food out of 5-60°C, and treat 65°C as the target your hot-holding equipment must actually hit. Cold food lives at 5°C or below, hot food at 65°C or above, and anything in between is on a countdown clock.

The full FSSAI temperature chart

Cold and chilled storage

• Chilled high-risk food: 5°C or below.
• Foods of animal origin (raw meat, poultry, fish, dairy): 4°C or below.
• Cold display food (salad counters, dessert fridges) may sit at 5-10°C for a maximum of 2 hours, once only. After that, discard it.

Frozen storage

• Frozen food: -18°C or below.
• Probe frozen deliveries at the door. A carton that arrives partly thawed gets rejected, not refrozen; build that check into your food receiving checklist.

Hot holding

• Hold hot food at 65°C or above. FSSAI's audit checklist specifies 70°C for non-veg dishes.
• If hot food drops below 65°C, it may stay below that threshold for up to 2 hours, once only. Then reheat it by direct heat to above 75°C for at least 2 minutes and return it to hot holding. Do not reheat that food a second time.

Cooking core temperatures

FSSAI publishes separate veg and non-veg standards, measured at the core of the thickest portion:

• Vegetarian: 60°C for 10 minutes, or 65°C for 2 minutes.
• Non-vegetarian: 65°C for 10 minutes, 70°C for 2 minutes, or 75°C for 15 seconds.
• Microwave cooking of raw animal-origin food: 75°C for 15 seconds, stirred or rotated mid-cook, then 2 minutes of standing time.

Reheating

• Reheat to a core temperature of 75°C, held for at least 2 minutes.
• Direct heat only, meaning stove or microwave. FSSAI explicitly rules out the bain-marie, topping up with hot water, and heat lamps as reheating methods.
• High-risk foods such as meat, poultry, fish and gravies may be reheated once only. Reheat the portion you need, never the whole pot.

Cooling cooked food

• Cool from 60°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then from 21°C to 5°C within a further 4 hours.
• Consume refrigerated cooked food within 24 hours of preparation.
• Shallow pans beat one deep handi. Splitting a batch is the easiest way to make the 2-hour window.

Thawing

• Never at room temperature. Not on the pass, not beside the tandoor.
• Default method: refrigerator thawing at 5°C or below.
• Alternative: cold running potable water at 15°C or below, for a maximum of 90 minutes. FSSAI recommends this route for shellfish and seafood.
• Label with defrost date and time, use within 12 hours, and never re-store thawed food.

Portioning and transport

• Portioning at room temperature must finish within 30 minutes. Portion larger batches in an area at 15°C or below.
• Transported high-risk food should reach the point of consumption within 2 hours of preparation, or travel held at 65°C or above, 5°C or below, or -18°C or below.
• Chilled high-risk food moved at ambient temperature must be eaten within 4 hours.

Fridge stacking order

The chart covers position as well as temperature. Top shelf to bottom:

1. Salads and ready-to-eat food
2. Dairy
3. Cooked vegetables
4. Cooked meat
5. Raw meat, always at the bottom

Drip travels down. Raw chicken stored above the salad tray undoes every other number on this page. FSSAI also requires FIFO and FEFO rotation on every shelf.

Making the numbers survive a Friday rush

A chart on the wall changes nothing unless somebody measures against it, on a schedule, with their initials next to the reading. Three habits close the gap:

1. Log storage temperatures three times a shift

• Owner: Commis or station associate | Timing: pre-service, mid-afternoon lull, closing
• Evidence/Proof: reading plus initials for every chiller, freezer and hot-holding unit; a ready-made structure is in our food temperature log template.
• Escalation: any reading inside 5-60°C triggers a re-measure with a second probe, stock moved to a working unit, and the shift lead informed within 15 minutes.

1. Probe food, not air, before service

• Owner: CDP or shift lead | Timing: 30 minutes before service opens
• Evidence/Proof: core temperatures from the bain-marie and the warmest corner of the cold counter, recorded as part of your line check.
• Escalation: anything under 65°C hot starts its one-time, two-hour corrective-action window; after that window, reheat it by direct heat above 75°C for at least 2 minutes and return it to hot holding. Pull anything that has already been reheated once.

1. Check at receiving

• Owner: Receiver or storekeeper | Timing: at the door, before signing the challan
• Evidence/Proof: probe reading per chilled and frozen delivery.
• Escalation: chilled stock above 5°C or visibly thawed frozen stock is rejected on the spot.

Printed chart or digital log

A printed chart plus a paper log book genuinely works at a single outlet with a stable team and a manager who checks the clipboard daily. It breaks in predictable ways: readings back-filled from memory at 11 PM, sheets that go soft and smudge in monsoon humidity, and no way for an owner to see across two sites without phone calls. A digital log adds timestamps you cannot fudge, a photo of the actual thermometer display, and an automatic flag when a reading lands in the danger zone.

Either way, the numbers on this page are the spec. If you want the checks, the readings and the exceptions in one place your whole team can run from a phone, take ten minutes with the Food Ops demo and set up your first temperature log tonight.