How to Handle and Store High-Risk Foods Safely

A public health inspector's guide to keeping meat, dairy, eggs, and cooked foods out of the danger zone, from the fridge to the plate.

Which foods count as high-risk?

High-risk foods, also called potentially hazardous foods, are moist and high in protein, which is exactly what bacteria need to grow. The usual list is raw and cooked meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy, cooked rice and pasta, cut fruits and vegetables, and soft cheeses. If you want the full list and the reason each one makes the cut, I cover that in our guide to what high-risk foods are and why.

This guide is about the next step, the part that actually keeps people from getting sick: how you handle and store those foods once they are in your kitchen.

Rule one: stay out of the danger zone

Almost everything else follows from one rule. Bacteria grow fastest between 4°C and 60°C, and public health calls that range the temperature danger zone. Your whole job with a high-risk food is to move it through that range quickly and not let it sit there.

That means cold food stays cold, at 4°C or below, and hot food stays hot, at 60°C or above. A high-risk food should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours, total. After two hours in the danger zone, you throw it out, even if it looks and smells fine. I have written more on the temperature danger zone if you want the detail.

Store them the right way

Good storage is mostly about temperature and separation. Health Canada sets the basics, and here is how I apply them.

• Set your fridge to 4°C or colder and your freezer to -18°C or colder. Check it with a thermometer, do not trust the dial.
• Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood on the bottom shelf in sealed containers, so juices cannot drip onto food below.
• Keep eggs in their original carton, on a shelf, not in the door where it is warmer.
• Do not overpack the fridge. Cold air has to move around the food to keep it safe.
• Refrigerate groceries within two hours of buying them, sooner in summer.

"On inspection day, the high-risk food itself was rarely the problem. It was raw chicken stored on a top shelf dripping onto salad, or a cooler running at 9 degrees because it was packed too full. Both are simple fixes that prevent most of what I wrote up."

Samira AliPublic Health Inspector, 10+ years across Canada and the U.S.

Stop cross-contamination

Cross-contamination is when bacteria from a raw high-risk food spread to food that will not be cooked again. It is one of the most common causes of food poisoning at home and at work.

• Use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry, and seafood, and a separate one for ready-to-eat foods like produce.
• Wash your hands with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds before, after, and between handling different foods.
• Clean and sanitize counters, boards, and utensils after they touch raw high-risk food.
• Never reuse a marinade that touched raw meat on cooked food.
• Keep raw and ready-to-eat foods apart in the cart, the bag, and the fridge.

Cook and reheat to a safe temperature

Cooking to the right internal temperature is what actually kills the bacteria. You cannot judge it by colour, so use a clean food thermometer in the thickest part. These are the Health Canada targets I work from.

When you reheat a high-risk leftover, bring it all the way to 74°C, not just warm. For the full breakdown, see our guide to safe food temperatures.

Chill, freeze, and transport

How you cool food matters as much as how you heat it. Cool leftovers and get them into the fridge within two hours. Split large amounts into shallow containers so they chill faster and do not sit warm in the middle.

If you move high-risk food from one place to another, keep it out of the danger zone the whole trip. Put hot food in insulated containers and cold food in a cooler with ice packs. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has product-specific guidance if you handle one type of food often.