Keeping your refrigerator healthy
Did you know your refrigerator is an aussie invention?
"Refrigeration has become an essential food storage technique by lowering the reproduction rate of bacteria and therefore, reducing the rate of food spoilage."
Using a refrigerator properly is probably not as well understood as it should be.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, bacterium can double within 20 to 30 minutes, meaning that one bacterium turns into two, then two become four, leading eventually to the formation of millions of cells in a few hours.
Food Spoilage - where to place food in your fridge
Fridge Door
The warmest area of your Fridge is the doors. The doors are the most inconsistent part of your fridge. Items like condiments are well suited. Anything even moderately perishable should not be stored here.
Even eggs are better placed away from the door even though some fridges contain special egg shelves. You want to store eggs in the coldest part of your fridge.
Keep eggs in their original cartons which are also designed to prevent odors etc entering the eggs.
Upper Shelves
The upper shelves are slightly warmer than below and are a great place to store items that don't have a high safety risk.
Great for leftovers, drinks, ready-to-eat foods like yogurt or cheese.
Lower Shelves
Foods with a higher safety risk are better off in the coolest section.
The bottom shelf is the coldest place in the fridge.
Store meat, poultry and fish here in the trays to prevent cross contamination.
High and Low Humidty Drawers
High - carrots, leafy greens spinach, basil, broccoli etc.
Low - Pears, apples, grapes, mushrooms, capsicum, advocados berries etc.
Do not overfill - your fridge needs air to circulate.
Cooling Down Foods Before Refrigerating
The old advice to let food cool completely on the bench before refrigerating has largely been revised by food safety authorities — here's what the current evidence actually says.
The original concern was valid: placing a large pot of hot food directly into the fridge raises the internal temperature, potentially pushing other stored foods — dairy, meat, leftovers — into the bacterial danger zone of 5°C–60°C. For older, less powerful refrigerators this was a genuine risk.
However, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and equivalent bodies now recommend a different approach, because the risk of leaving food at room temperature too long outweighs the modest impact on fridge temperature.
Current Food Safety Guidance
- Refrigerate cooked food within 2 hours of cooking — or within 1 hour if the ambient temperature is above 32°C.
- A short rest is fine — 20 to 30 minutes on the bench to stop active steaming is reasonable.
- Don't wait for room temperature — the old practice of waiting until food fully cools is now considered outdated.
- Divide large portions into smaller shallow containers to speed cooling inside the fridge rather than on the bench.
Modern refrigerators recover quickly — fan-forced cooling and better insulation mean today's fridges handle a warm dish far better than older models did.
A short rest on the bench: fine. Waiting until food reaches room temperature before refrigerating: outdated advice. When in doubt, refrigerate sooner rather than later — your fridge can handle it.
Baked Lasagna retains its heat
