[NAFEX] check your refrigerator temperature

road's end farm organic101 at linkny.com
Mon Jan 23 10:48:01 EST 2006


On Jan 22, 2006, at 7:53 PM, tanis grif wrote:

> I wonder how many refrigerators average a temperature over 40 degrees?

They should be under 40º, ideally between 35º and 38º for general mixed 
food storage.
(I would say, 33º to 34º, except that most household refrigerators 
won't hold that precise a temperature and if you try to keep them there 
things will keep freezing in them, in my experience.) If the 
refrigerator is over 40º all sorts of things will go bad in them much 
faster than they ought to.

Vegetable drawers may run a little warmer; and in fact many vegetables 
don't like to be that cold. But a refrigerator set at ideal temperature 
for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant (mid 50's) is going to be not only be 
much too warm for some other produce but would be seriously hazardous 
for meat, milk, mayonnaise, etc. So they're not designed to run that 
warm. However, it's a good idea to keep a thermometer in yours, and 
check it once in a while; you might need to reset it. I find that mine 
often needs readjustment with the seasons as the temperature in the 
kitchen seems to affect proper setting.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly
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