Do UK cafes and restaurants need a fridge temperature log?

What the law actually requires

There is a common myth that “the law says you must keep a fridge log.” It does not say that in those words. What food law actually requires is two things.

First, you must keep high-risk chilled food safe. The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, which bring Regulation (EC) 852/2004 into UK law, require food to be kept at safe temperatures. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the legal maximum for high-risk chilled food is 8C. The Food Standards Agency recommends running fridges at 5C or below so a small rise does not push you over the legal limit.

Second, you must run a documented food-safety management system based on HACCP principles. For most small cafes and restaurants that means the FSA’s Safer Food, Better Business pack. A core part of that system is monitoring temperatures and writing down what you find.

So while no clause names a “fridge log”, the combination of “keep food cold” plus “prove you are managing it” means a written temperature record is, in practice, expected.

Why the written record matters

The record is not box-ticking. If you are ever investigated after a complaint or an illness, the due-diligence defence in section 21 of the Food Safety Act 1990 can protect you, but only if you can show you took all reasonable precautions. A consistent, dated temperature log is exactly the kind of evidence that defence relies on. “We always check the fridges” is worth far less than a signed record showing you did.

It also catches problems early. A fridge drifting from 4C to 7C over a week is invisible day to day, but obvious on a log. You fix it before stock is lost or someone gets ill.

How to keep one in two minutes a day

You do not need software. A simple routine works:

• Check every fridge and chilled display at the start and end of the day, and write the actual number, not a tick.
• If a unit reads above 8C, move the stock to a working fridge straight away, record it as a corrective action, and note what you did.
• Check freezers read -18C or colder.
• Sign and date each day so the record stands up as evidence.

That is the whole job. The point is a record you can hand to an inspector that shows control, not a perfect-looking sheet that nobody filled in honestly.