ServSafe Manager guideFood-safety concepts
ServSafe Cooling Rules: Understanding the Two-Stage Timeline
Cooked TCS food must reach 70°F within 2 hours and 41°F within 6 hours total, starting at 135°F. A worked log shows both clocks.
Short answer
FDA Food Code 2022 says cooked TCS food must cool from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours and from 135°F to 41°F or below within a total of 6 hours. The second stage is not another full 6 hours. Reheating the food does not automatically restart that clock. Food prepared from room-temperature ingredients, such as the code’s canned-tuna example, has a different rule: 41°F within 4 hours.
Two deadlines from one start
Section 3-501.14(A) applies to cooked time/temperature control for safety food:
- Within 2 hours, from 135°F down to 70°F.
- Within a total of 6 hours, from 135°F down to 41°F or below.
If the food hits 70°F at the 2-hour mark, the remaining time to 41°F is 4 hours, because 6 minus 2 is 4. If it hits 70°F sooner, you still must reach 41°F by the original 6-hour mark. You do not get a fresh 4 hours that ignores the start.
A worked log
This log is an illustration. The soup is 135°F at 11:00 a.m.
| Checkpoint | Clock time | Temperature | What the rule allows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | 11:00 a.m. | 135°F | Both clocks start. |
| First-stage deadline | 1:00 p.m. | Must be 70°F | 11:00 plus 2 hours. |
| Example reading | 12:20 p.m. | 78°F | Still inside the first stage. 40 minutes remain to reach 70°F. |
| Total deadline | 5:00 p.m. | Must be 41°F or below | 11:00 plus 6 hours. |
Check the 12:20 p.m. reading. 78°F is above 70°F, and that is allowed at 12:20 because the first deadline is 1:00. It would not be allowed at 1:05. Check the total: even if the soup is 70°F at 12:30, 41°F is still due at 5:00, not at 6:30.
Food made from ambient-temperature ingredients is paragraph (B), not this two-stage path. The code’s example is reconstituted food and canned tuna. That food must reach 41°F within 4 hours. Do not paste the 2-hour and 6-hour lines onto it.
What not to do when a stage is missed
The code marks these cooling times as priority items. It does not say that reheating to 165°F erases a missed stage and starts a new two-hour cooling clock. Reheating for hot holding is a different section, used when you intend to hold the food hot, and it has its own two-hour limit from 41°F up to the reheating temperature. It is not a universal rescue for food that sat too warm.
If a stage is missed, follow the operation’s corrective-action procedure and the regulatory authority. This page will not invent a discard time the code section does not state.
Practice one cooling log until both deadlines are automatic. The broader temperature table, including cooking and holding, stays on the temperature guide.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.