How Long Does Food Last in the Fridge?

The full Canadian fridge storage chart: raw meat, cooked leftovers, dairy, eggs, and vegetables, plus the cooling, thawing, and labelling rules an inspector checks, and why some kitchens throw food out sooner.

Hi, my name is Samira, and I am a public health inspector. Since 2009, I have been walking into restaurants, daycares, long-term care homes, hospitals, and every kind of kitchen in between, opening the fridge, and asking the same question: how old is this? In our guide to the 2-hour rule, we covered how long food can sit on the counter. This guide covers what happens after it goes in the fridge. Every number below comes from the storage table in Ontario's official food handler guide. I have added the cooling, thawing, and labelling rules I check on every visit, and one thing the chart cannot tell you is when to ignore it and throw the food out anyway.

The full fridge storage chart

These times only hold if your fridge is at 4°C (40°F) or colder and the food is covered. They are the longest a food can safely stay, not a target you have to reach. Food can go bad well before its time is up. If it looks, smells, or feels off, or if you are not sure how old it is, throw it out. Nobody has ever gotten sick from food that went in the garbage. Source: Food Safety: A Guide for Ontario's Food Handlers, Appendix H.

Not on the chart: the Ontario guide gives no day count for plain cooked rice, cooked pasta, hard-boiled eggs, cooked vegetables, or mayonnaise-based salads like tuna and potato salad. They are all potentially hazardous foods. Cool them fast using the rules below, keep them covered, and use them within a few days like any other leftover. For rice, which carries its own risk, read how long cooked rice can sit out.

Why some kitchens throw food out sooner than the chart says

You may notice this if you work in a hospital, a long-term care home, or a large daycare. The chart says cooked chicken lasts 3 to 4 days, but the kitchen throws it out after 2. That is not a mistake, and it is not the regulation. It is the kitchen's own policy.

High-risk facilities feed people who get sick more easily: newborns, seniors, patients on treatment. Many of them build their own HACCP plan, which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. It is a written system that looks at every step where food could become unsafe and sets a control for it. A HACCP plan can go above and beyond what the government requires, and often does: shorter storage times, more frequent temperature checks, stricter labelling.

Two things to keep straight. First, if your workplace has a HACCP plan, follow it. It is stricter than the chart on purpose. Second, do not confuse your workplace policy with the law. The numbers on this page are the government limits. A kitchen that keeps chicken for 2 days is being careful. A kitchen that keeps it for 6 is breaking the rule.

And whether you cook at home or in a hospital, one rule sits above every number on this page: if in doubt, throw it out. The chart tells you the longest a food can last under perfect conditions. It cannot see your fridge, your container, or how long the food sat on the counter before it went in. When you are not sure, the safe answer is to throw it out.

What the fridge does, and what it does not do

People assume the fridge kills bacteria. It does not. At 4°C, bacteria do not die. They slow to a crawl. Given enough days, they still grow to levels that make food unsafe, which is why every food on the chart has a limit. Freezing does not kill bacteria either. It pauses them.

The other thing a fridge cannot do is cool hot food quickly. A deep pot of hot soup put straight in the fridge stays warm in the centre for hours, sitting inside the temperature danger zone of 4°C to 60°C. That is why cooling is its own step, covered further down.

Raw meat, poultry, and fish

Ground meat spoils fastest. When meat is ground, bacteria from the surface mix throughout, so raw ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey lasts only 1 to 2 days. Whole cuts keep the bacteria on the outside, so raw steaks and chops last 2 to 3 days and raw roasts last 3 to 4 days.

Raw chicken and turkey, whole or in pieces, last 2 to 3 days. Salmonella loves poultry, so I treat that number as firm. Raw cleaned fish lasts 3 to 4 days, but once cooked, fish drops to 1 to 2 days. Cooked fish is the shortest-lived leftover on the chart.

Cured and smoked meats are the exception. Bacon and deli ham are treated with salt and smoke, which cuts the moisture bacteria need, so they last 6 to 7 days. If you are handling large amounts of meat, our guide to storing and handling meat, poultry, and seafood goes deeper.

Cooked leftovers

Cooked meat and poultry, including leftover cooked chicken, last 3 to 4 days. Mixed dishes are shorter. Casseroles, meat pies, meat sauces, and soups last 2 to 3 days, because they combine meat, dairy, and cooked starch, all of which bacteria grow in easily. A leftover pizza is a mixed dish. It gets the 2- to 3-day limit, not the 3- to 4-day one.

Two habits protect leftovers. First, never let the food sit out longer than 2 hours before it goes in. Second, cool it fast and in shallow containers, so it actually reaches 4°C instead of staying warm in the middle. The clock on the chart starts once the food is at fridge temperature.

Dairy, eggs, butter, and cheese

Once opened, milk, cream, and yogurt last 3 days, and so does cottage cheese. Firm cheese like cheddar lasts several months, and opened processed cheese lasts 3 to 4 weeks. Opened butter lasts 3 weeks in the fridge.

Eggs in the shell last 3 weeks in the fridge. That applies to clean, uncracked eggs. In a food premises, you cannot use cracked eggs at all. If you are a home cook wondering about eggs left on the counter, that is a separate question with a much shorter answer.

A best before date only applies to an unopened package. Once you open it, the label date no longer protects you. Our guide to best before vs expiration dates explains the difference.

Fresh vegetables

Leafy and sprouted vegetables go first. Spinach and sprouts last 2 days, broccoli 3 days, and lettuce and whole tomatoes about 1 week. Once you cut a vegetable, it changes category. Cut melon and cut tomatoes are classed as potentially hazardous foods in Ontario, which means they need to be refrigerated at 4°C like meat, not left out like a whole fruit.

Cooling hot food before it goes in

Improper cooling is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness I see. Ontario's Food Premises Reference Document sets a two-stage limit:

• Stage one: cool from 60°C (140°F) to 20°C (68°F) within 2 hours.
• Stage two: cool from 20°C (68°F) to 4°C (40°F) or lower within the next 4 hours.

To hit those times, move the food from the big pot into shallow pans, 5 to 7 cm deep or less. Partly cover the pans so heat can escape. To speed things up, set the container in a sink of ice water, stir the food, use an ice wand, add ice directly to the food if the recipe allows it, or divide it into smaller portions. Once the food is at 4°C, cover it tightly, then label and date it.

Thawing frozen food safely

There are four safe ways to thaw food. In the fridge at 4°C, which is slow, so allow a day or more for large items like a whole turkey or a roast. In a sink of cold running water. As part of the cooking process. Or in the microwave, if you cook the food right away. Never thaw on the counter, because the outside sits in the danger zone while the inside is still frozen.

Once food has thawed, do not refreeze it without cooking it first. In practice, I tell operators to treat thawed raw meat like fresh meat: once it is thawed in the fridge, the raw meat times on the chart apply.

Where food goes on the shelves

Shelf order stops raw juices from dripping onto food that will not be cooked again. The Ontario guide is specific: raw meat, poultry, and seafood on the bottom shelves; cooked and ready-to-eat food on the upper shelves; and raw fruits and vegetables, plus food that will be reheated, in the centre.

Your turn: assign these four items to the correct shelf. A box of leftover pizza, a package of raw chicken wings, fresh unwashed strawberries, and a bowl of potato salad.

First in, first out, and date labels

Anyone who has worked in a restaurant, grocery store, or cafeteria knows the letters FIFO, first in, first out. New stock goes behind old stock so the oldest food gets used first. The Ontario guide asks operators to sort food by its expiry or best before date, and to date any product that arrives without one.

Leftovers need the same treatment. Once cooled, cover them, then write the date on the container. In a food premises, the Reference Document's best practice is to mark the time the food came out of temperature control and the time it must be discarded. That label is the first thing I look for when I open a walk-in cooler.

"An unlabelled container in a walk-in tells me the same thing every time: nobody knows how old it is. If nobody knows, it goes in the garbage. A piece of tape and a marker costs less than a case of chicken."

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

For restaurants, cafeterias, and daycares: what an inspector checks

If you run a kitchen in Ontario, here is what cold storage looks like from my side of the clipboard. Each point is a legal requirement, or the province's stated best practice, not a suggestion.

• 4°C or lower, measured inside the food. Section 27 of O. Reg. 493/17 sets the limit on the food's internal temperature, not the air in the fridge.
• A working thermometer in every cold unit. Section 30 requires refrigeration equipment to keep food at the right temperature and to include an accurate, easy-to-read thermometer.
• Check temperatures several times a day. The Ontario guide asks for checks throughout the day, and a weekly probe check to confirm the fridge's own thermometer is accurate. Write the readings down. Document monitoring, make it measurable, and assign it to a named person.
• Food off the floor. Sections 22 and 23 require shelves or racks at least 15 cm above the floor, and all food stored on them.
• No cracked eggs, no ungraded eggs. Cracked eggs and Grade C eggs cannot be used in a food premises, and section 47 bans ungraded eggs outright.
• No food stored in an opened metal can. Once you open a can, transfer the contents to a covered, food-grade container.
• Frozen food stays frozen. Section 35 sets the minimum temperature at minus 18°C or lower for anything stored or sold frozen.

In Toronto, cold holding failures fall under the DineSafe program, which sorts infractions into crucial, significant, and minor categories under O. Reg. 493/17. Results are posted, and section 6 of the regulation requires operators to display them as the inspector directs. Every cook, supervisor, and daycare kitchen lead learns these rules in the food handlers certificate course. If you need to certify a whole team, group pricing covers everyone in one order.

Scenario challenge: what would you do?

Final quiz

Five questions. Tap each one to check your answer.

For safe holding times at room temperature, see the main How Long Can Food Sit Out guide. Not sure whether a food is hazardous? Use the free Is My Food Hazardous checker.