Refrigerating meat after cooking

food-safetyrefrigerator

I've heard that you need to let meat cool down after cooking before you store in in refrigeration, something about bacteria building up when you do that. Any idea if that's true?

Best Answer

In an ideal world, you would chill any hot food product rapidly before putting it in the refrigerator. However, modern refrigerators can handle the load from a mass of hot food, so it is better to put the food in the refrigerator than to hold it at room temperature to cool.

The goal is to minimize the amount of time in the danger zone (40-140 F, 4-60 C) during which pathogens can grow.

See also: