Acceptable Refrigerator temps

[sande005]

With all the recent posts of issues with the 12vdc Furrion fridges, as well as many past posts of absorption type fridges maintaining acceptable operating temps, I was wondering what temperature is *acceptable* for safe storage of foods?

My research shows that 37-39 degrees F is the optimal operating temp. I use a Accurite wireless thermometer to watch my fridge temps closely. In hot humid weather it is really tough to keep fridge temps in the 38 degree range, especially during cooking time when the door is being opened and closed. At times I've seen the internal temp get up to 45, and then it might take 2-3 hours for it to get back down. I've seen days I couldn't get the temp down below 40 all day long.

With all this said, we have never had food spoil. I bet 90% of trailer owners have never even looked at the fridge's temp. Amazing that more folks don't get food poisoning.

To the original question:

Acceptable temps is below 40f, or above 140F. If in the in between "danger zone" for more than 2 hours, it should be thrown out. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safet...-zone-40f-140f

Multi-decade food/restaurant manager here. Way too many Health Dept. mandatory classes to count. You'd never eat again after hearing all the ways people got sick/died from improper storage.
1. There is no such thing as "stomach flu" - it is always food poisoning.
2. There's an ecological balance to what grows on food. Things that make it taste/smell bad can repress illness causing bacteria from getting a foothold. It may be nasty, but your odds of becoming ill from "funky" food are somewhat lower.
3. If the FBI (Food Bourne Illness) bacteria get started first, they can actually make the food seem "fresher" by suppressing spoilage bacteria. For many, you can't tell that it has gone "bad".
4. Just because you put it in the fridge, it may still stay in the danger zone for a long time. For big pots of soup/chili/etc. we literally used to sink plastic bags full of ice in it, to get the middle cooled faster. Large quantities of anything can take a long time for the middle to get cold. Spread it out if you can to a large, thin area so it has more surface area to allow cooling faster.
5. Vice versa - that frozen burger or chicken on the counter may still be frozen in the middle, but the surface has warmed to the point of being able to let the FBI bacteria multiply. Long thawing in the fridge, or faster in bath of cool, frequently changed, water is preferred.
6. The 2 hour time in the danger zone is cumulative. That trip home from the store in a hot car reduces the time it can sit on a counter two days from now when it comes out of the fridge.
7. Foods not completely cooked to high temps may not reduce the FBI organisms enough - hence the undercooked egg/burger warnings on menus. Cooking usually does not "kill" everything, just reduces it enough so your body can defeat the remaining....
8. For some FBI's, it's all about concentration - your body does an amazing job on protecting itself. A bit of raw chicken juice on a salad that you eat right away might not make you ill (NOT advised!), while letting that salad sit for an hour or two will allow the bacteria multiply to very high levels, and overwhelm your body's defenses.
9. There's a huge range of FBI causing organisms. The above revolves around mostly bacterial that grow in/on the food. There are viruses, phages, and others that may not "grow", and can get you without other precautions - thorough hand washing, washing fruits/vegetables, etc.

[dryfly]

To the original question:

Acceptable temps is below 40f, or above 140F. If in the in between "danger zone" for more than 2 hours, it should be thrown out. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safet...-zone-40f-140f

1. There is no such thing as "stomach flu" - it is always food poisoning.

While this has nothing to do with RV's, or should be in another area of the forum, I really disagree with your point # 1.

Stomach Flu (not an influenza) is really gastroenteritis caused by bacteria or a virus. It is contagious, i.e. pathogens passing from one person to another. Examples are norovirus, rotavirus, and others. This is not to say it can't be transmitted by food, but is usually transmitted by physical contact or coughing.

Food poisoning is a result of contaminated food, i.e. toxins, bacteria, viruses.

I do agree that there is a big overlap between the two illnesses, but food is not *always* the primary contact point of infection.

[livinthelife]

Any merit in bypassing the defrost function? Is it feasible to do so? I'm having 12+ hrs defrost cycle - that can't be right!
Your thoughts?
Craig

We discovered that turning off the fridge to switch it to inverter for traveling, and then turning it off again when we reach our destination to switch it to hook up connections resets the defroster (we're on the every 49 hours defrost cycle it seems). We were getting a lot of frost buildup in the freezer and on the fridge fins because it wasn't defrosting. That meant that we would have to do an actual defrost (unload freezer/fridge and turn it off to melt away the frost buildup. We now just flip the switch to change it from/to inverter/hookup/propane. That way the timer for auto defrost stays constant.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

To the original question:

Acceptable temps is below 40f, or above 140F. If in the in between "danger zone" for more than 2 hours, it should be thrown out. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safet...-zone-40f-140f

Multi-decade food/restaurant manager here. Way too many Health Dept. mandatory classes to count. You'd never eat again after hearing all the ways people got sick/died from improper storage.
1. There is no such thing as "stomach flu" - it is always food poisoning.
2. There's an ecological balance to what grows on food. Things that make it taste/smell bad can repress illness causing bacteria from getting a foothold. It may be nasty, but your odds of becoming ill from "funky" food are somewhat lower.
3. If the FBI (Food Bourne Illness) bacteria get started first, they can actually make the food seem "fresher" by suppressing spoilage bacteria. For many, you can't tell that it has gone "bad".
4. Just because you put it in the fridge, it may still stay in the danger zone for a long time. For big pots of soup/chili/etc. we literally used to sink plastic bags full of ice in it, to get the middle cooled faster. Large quantities of anything can take a long time for the middle to get cold. Spread it out if you can to a large, thin area so it has more surface area to allow cooling faster.
5. Vice versa - that frozen burger or chicken on the counter may still be frozen in the middle, but the surface has warmed to the point of being able to let the FBI bacteria multiply. Long thawing in the fridge, or faster in bath of cool, frequently changed, water is preferred.
6. The 2 hour time in the danger zone is cumulative. That trip home from the store in a hot car reduces the time it can sit on a counter two days from now when it comes out of the fridge.
7. Foods not completely cooked to high temps may not reduce the FBI organisms enough - hence the undercooked egg/burger warnings on menus. Cooking usually does not "kill" everything, just reduces it enough so your body can defeat the remaining....
8. For some FBI's, it's all about concentration - your body does an amazing job on protecting itself. A bit of raw chicken juice on a salad that you eat right away might not make you ill (NOT advised!), while letting that salad sit for an hour or two will allow the bacteria multiply to very high levels, and overwhelm your body's defenses.
9. There's a huge range of FBI causing organisms. The above revolves around mostly bacterial that grow in/on the food. There are viruses, phages, and others that may not "grow", and can get you without other precautions - thorough hand washing, washing fruits/vegetables, etc.

Not showing my wife this post.....