Hot meals are often served in restaurants, cafes, and pubs, as well as in schools, hospitals, and other institutions.
It is essential that those with a responsibility to ensure food safety, such as chefs and managers, finding the right temperature balance is crucial when serving hot foods.
Serving food too cold can risk foodborne illness while serving it too hot can result in unpleasant eating experiences or even burns.
So what is hot holding temperature?
Hot holding is the process of keeping cooked food hot for several hours before being served. In the Uk, if you sell food to the public, it is a legal requirements that food that is held hot, must be kept at a minimum temperature of 63 C or above. This is above the danger zone and means that cooked food is normally not cold enough to develop harmful bacteria.
If hot food is to be hot held at a temperature below 63°C, this is permitted for one period of up to two hours. This is known as the 'hot holding exemption.