Research on Effectiveness of Cooling Practices

The rapid cooling of cooked foods is critical to limiting the growth of foodborne pathogens and the formation of bacterial toxins. Cases of foodborne illness have been linked to consumption of food prepared on the school premises. USDA Food and Nutrition Service and FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition collaborated on studies conducted at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology and at USDA’s Center of Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs to examine if cooling practices commonly used in school foodservice operations are effective in rapidly cooling foods. Results suggest that some common methods used to cool foods will meet the time and temperature limits specified in the FDA Food Code, while others will not. These data provide insight into how factors such as food depth, container type, covering and cooling equipment can impact the rate of cooling in a variety of foods. These data may have implications for best practice recommendations and the regulations that apply to the cooling of foods in retail foodservice operations.