Cooling Validation Protocol (Free)

Protocol – Cooling Validation

Cooling validation proves your method gets food through the danger zone fast enough – under the worst conditions you’ll actually face, not the ideal ones from the trial run.

Fill this in as you go, not from memory at the end of the shift – records reconstructed later are where the errors creep in. Replace [bracketed] guidance with your site’s detail.

1. Document control

1. Validation design

• Product(s): | Cooling method:
• Target profile: [e.g., 60 to 21 °C in 2h; to 5 °C within 6h]
• Worst-case conditions: [largest portion, deepest tray, fullest chiller]
• Probe locations: [centre of largest portion – justify]
• Trials planned: (minimum 3)

2. Results

3. Conclusion

If validation only passes with a half-empty blast chiller and 5 cm trays, those become your operating limits – written into the procedure, not remembered by the senior chef.

• Validated operating limits (portion size, depth, loading):
• Maximum batch size validated:
• Overall result: [Pass / Fail]
• Procedure updated? [Y/N – ref]
• Revalidation triggers:
• Validated by: [Name / signature / date] | QA approval: [Name / date]

Approval and control

Keep completed forms for Retain for life of the process plus [3 years]. at [defined location] – and make sure someone besides you knows where that is.