Food Standards Australia New Zealand

Authority

Official guidance

Territories

AU, NZ

Primacy

primary

Commercial interest

none

Retrieved

2026-08-13

State

Read and citable

Original document

Gives the bi-national floor — 'potentially hazardous food must always be at 5°C or colder, or 60°C or hotter to keep it safe' — and cites Standard 3.2.2 clauses 5, 6, 8 and 10. The companion 2-hour/4-hour rule page supplies the time control BBQHQ needs and the England regulations do not state: under two hours in the 5–60 °C band the food may be used or refrigerated, between two and four hours it may be used but not refrigerated, and beyond four hours it must be thrown away. Note this is the same two-country remit that broke the country-shaped model: New Zealand's own regulator sets the identical 60 °C floor by a different instrument.

Safety, Technical

• Explicitly not culinary practice: A temperature-control standard is silent on eating quality.

• “potentially hazardous food must always be at 5°C or colder, or 60°C or hotter to keep it safe”

  FSANZ requires potentially hazardous food to be at 5 °C or colder or 60 °C or hotter, citing Standard 3.2.2 clauses 5, 6, 8 and 10, and publishes a 2-hour/4-hour rule for food in the 5–60 °C band: under two hours it may be used or refrigerated, between two and four hours it may be used but not refrigerated, and beyond four hours it must be thrown away.

  Safety regime:

  Retail and food service, under the Food Standards Code.

  Where it applies:

  Australia and New Zealand jointly — the bi-national remit that a country-shaped model cannot represent.

  The 2-hour/4-hour rule is the clearest maximum any retrieved instrument states, and it is a maximum for food OUT of temperature control rather than for food held at the floor.