Retained Regulation 852/2004 and national hygiene regulations
Do you have to record fridge temperatures?
No regulation says "write the fridge temperature down twice a day". What the law says is that you must keep a food safety management system based on HACCP principles, and establish documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of your business to show it works. In practice that means temperature records, and the numbers you are recording against differ between England and Scotland. Answer a few questions to see what applies to you.
8 °C
the chill holding limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. gov.uk states it is recommended, not a legal figure, in Scotland
63 °C
the hot holding minimum for cooked food on display or for service in England
Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, Schedule 4
No fixed period
the law says records are retained "for an appropriate period", not for a set number of months
Question 1
What kind of food business is it?
Pick the closest. gov.uk defines a food business broadly: if you sell, cook, store, handle, prepare or distribute food, including from home, a mobile unit or online, you are one.
What it does and does not check
- Which temperature checks your business needs to record, and why
- Safer Food, Better Business diaries against a full written HACCP plan
- The 8 °C chill rule and the 63 °C hot holding rule, and their tolerance periods
- Why Scotland's temperature control regulations are worded differently
- How long records must be kept, and what the law actually says about that
- Caterers, retailers, care homes, childminders, manufacturers and mobile units
Temperature Log is an independent site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland or any local authority, and nothing on it is legal advice. Food hygiene law is enforced locally and the right answer for your premises can depend on facts a website cannot see: confirm the position with your local authority food safety team. Every legal figure here carries the instrument it comes from and the date we read it.
UK food temperature control rules, England and Scotland compared
Last updated
The two sets of temperature control regulations are worded differently, and the difference is not cosmetic: England fixes numbers in the schedule, Scotland describes conditions. Both sit on top of the same retained EU hygiene regulation. Every row is quoted from the instrument named.
England column is taken from Schedule 4 to the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2996), read on 15 August 2026; Scotland column from Schedule 4 to the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/3), read the same day. The UK-wide rows are from retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 as it applies in Great Britain. Wales and Northern Ireland make their own equivalent regulations, which gov.uk describes as carrying the same 8 °C legal requirement as England; we have not reproduced their wording here and say so rather than assuming. Nothing in this table applies to operations covered by Regulation 853/2004, which Schedule 4 excludes.
| Requirement | England (SI 2013/2996, Sch 4) | Scotland (SSI 2006/3, Sch 4) |
|---|---|---|
| Chill holding | Offence to keep food likely to support pathogen growth above 8 °C at food premises | No numeric limit. Offence to keep food other than in a refrigerator, refrigerating chamber or cool ventilated place, or above 63 °C |
| Hot holding | Offence to keep cooked or reheated food for service or display below 63 °C where that is needed to control pathogens | Above 63 °C is one of the two permitted holding conditions |
| Chilled display tolerance | Defence where the food was on display for sale for less than four hours and had not previously been displayed above 8 °C | Food exposed for sale, or undergoing preparation for sale, is outside the offence |
| Hot holding tolerance | Defence where the food had been held for service or display for less than two hours and had not previously been so held by that person | Not framed as a timed defence in Schedule 4 |
| Reheating | No reheating temperature stated in Schedule 4 | Reheated food must be raised to not less than 82 °C, with a defence where doing so would deteriorate its quality |
| Higher chill temperature by manufacturer's recommendation | Defence available where the manufacturer specified a temperature between 8 °C and ambient, supported by a well-founded scientific assessment | Not framed this way; the schedule works from holding conditions |
| Cold chain (UK-wide, retained 852/2004 Annex II Ch IX) | Food likely to support pathogen growth not to be kept at temperatures that might result in a risk to health; the cold chain is not to be interrupted, with limited periods outside temperature control permitted | Same requirement applies |
| Records (UK-wide, retained 852/2004 Art 5) | Documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of the business; retain other documents and records for an appropriate period | Same requirement applies |
- Chilled food must be kept at 8 °C or below, which gov.uk states is a legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and a recommendation in Scotland.
- gov.uk advises setting the fridge to 5 °C or below so food stays under 8 °C even when the temperature fluctuates.
- Cooked food kept for service or display must be at 63 °C or above in England, with a defence where it has been held for less than two hours.
- Chilled food can be kept out of the fridge for up to four hours in England, after which gov.uk says it must be thrown away; if it has been out for less than four hours it can go back in the fridge.
- Scotland requires reheated food to reach at least 82 °C, a rule that has no equivalent in the England regulations.
- Retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 Article 5(4)(c) requires food business operators to retain documents and records "for an appropriate period". It sets no number of months or years.
- The FSA's current Safer Food, Better Business guidance tells businesses to store completed diary pages safely until the next visit from a local authority food safety officer.
Cite this page
“UK food temperature control rules, England and Scotland compared”, Temperature Log, https://temperaturelog.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-15). England column is taken from Schedule 4 to the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2996), read on 15 August 2026; Scotland column from Schedule 4 to the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/3), read the same day. The UK-wide rows are from retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 as it applies in Great Britain. Wales and Northern Ireland make their own equivalent regulations, which gov.uk describes as carrying the same 8 °C legal requirement as England; we have not reproduced their wording here and say so rather than assuming. Nothing in this table applies to operations covered by Regulation 853/2004, which Schedule 4 excludes.
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Read next
The longer answers, with sources.
- Fridge and freezer temperature log: what to record
What a food business should record on a fridge temperature log, how often, what the target temperatures are, and what to write down when a reading is out of range.
- How long must you keep food temperature records?
The honest answer: retained Regulation 852/2004 says an appropriate period and sets no number. What FSA guidance says instead, and how to decide a retention period.
- Safer Food, Better Business: what the diary must show
How the FSA's SFBB pack works, what the diary has to contain, where CookSafe and Safe Catering apply instead, and when a full HACCP plan is expected instead.
- Food temperature rules in Scotland: how they differ
Scotland's hygiene regulations do not set an 8C chill limit and do require reheating to 82C. What that means for temperature records north of the border.
Questions, answered directly
Do I legally have to record fridge temperatures?
There is no regulation naming fridge temperature logs. The duty is in retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004, Article 5: a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles, effective monitoring at critical control points, and documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of the business to demonstrate that it works. For almost every catering business, refrigerated storage is a critical control point, so recording its temperature is how you meet that duty.
What temperature must chilled food be kept at?
8 °C or below. gov.uk states this is a legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and a recommendation in Scotland, and advises setting the fridge to 5 °C or below so food stays cold enough even when the temperature changes. In England the underlying offence is in Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.
What is the minimum hot holding temperature?
63 °C in England. Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 makes it an offence to keep cooked or reheated food for service or display below 63 °C where that temperature is needed to control pathogen growth or toxin formation. There is a defence where the food had been held for less than two hours and had not previously been held for service by that person.
How long can chilled food be out of the fridge?
gov.uk says up to four hours, after which it must be thrown away, and that food out for less than four hours can go back in the fridge. That matches the defence in Schedule 4 of the England regulations, which covers food displayed for sale for less than four hours that had not previously been displayed above 8 °C.
How long must food temperature records be kept?
Retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 Article 5(4)(c) says records must be retained "for an appropriate period" and gives no number. FSA guidance for Safer Food, Better Business says to store completed diary pages until the next visit from a local authority food safety officer. Contracts, audit schemes and traceability duties frequently require longer, and those are usually what sets the real period.
Do the same temperature rules apply across the UK?
No. England, Wales and Northern Ireland use an 8 °C chill limit; the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 instead require food to be kept in a refrigerator, refrigerating chamber or cool ventilated place, or above 63 °C, and require reheated food to reach at least 82 °C. The HACCP and record-keeping duties from retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 are the same everywhere.
What happens if I cannot produce temperature records at an inspection?
gov.uk states that if your business is involved in a food safety incident you will need to show your records as evidence of how you keep food safe. Under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, a person guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine, or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for up to two years, a fine, or both. Enforcement officers can also serve hygiene improvement notices before any prosecution.
Know what you have to write down
The duty is monitoring and records commensurate with your business, not a form somebody sold you.
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