Cooked Food Safety Research

Research Findings

Research on rapid cooling of cooked foods has demonstrated that vacuum cooling is the most effective method for safely cooling prepared meals through the danger zone. Key findings include:

• Cooling from 90°C to 10°C achieved in 6-12 minutes with vacuum cooling
• Blast chilling requires 90-180 minutes for the same temperature reduction
• Bacterial growth is effectively eliminated with vacuum cooling due to the rapid passage through the 60°C-10°C danger zone
• Product quality (texture, flavor) is better preserved with vacuum cooling due to the shorter cooling time