Is Your Refrigerator Cold Enough? This Study Says It Might Not Be

How often do you think about the settings on your refrigerator? If the fridge feels cold inside, you may not consider the precise temperature — but it might be time to change that.

Scientists from the Salmonella and Listeria Unit at the French Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) reviewed scientific literature from 2002 to 2020 and collected data from the National Reference Laboratory with the goal of learning what the refrigerator temperature is in most European homes.

This information is crucial to determining what temperature ready-to-eat food producers — who aim to re-create the real storage conditions that consumers use — should utilize to test the development of bacteria and set a shelf-life for their products.

As Food Safety News reports, the findings of this analysis have prompted the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Listeria monocytogenes to revise its guidelines on how cold a refrigerator should be when food is tested for shelf-life studies. Beyond helping the food industry establish new guidelines, the scientists’ findings suggest that some people are storing food at much higher temperatures than previously recommended. 

The agency reached its conclusions regarding shelf-life testing guidelines after studying the temperatures of nearly 10,000 household fridges across 16 European countries. In its 2024 study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food Microbiology, researchers found that the average home refrigerator runs at about 6.4°C (43.5°F).

As the study notes, on an “international level, current recommendations of the Codex Alimentarius lead to adjust the temperature of household refrigerators so that the temperature of products does not exceed 6°C (42.8°F),” and temperatures should preferably hover between 2°C and 4°C (35.6°F and 39.2°F). The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international organization created by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) that helps set recommended guidelines and standards for food safety.

An average temperature of 6.4°C (43.5°F) is also higher than the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recommended temperature for safe food storage of 4°C (40° F) or less.

Before this study by the ANSES team, researchers conducting shelf-life testing for food safety assumed a typical home fridge temperature of 12°C (53.6°F). Now, based on real-world data, they will assume a temperature of 10°C (50°F) to better reflect actual storage conditions — a positive change that will influence how ready-to-eat foods are evaluated and labeled with best-by dates moving forward.

The study’s focus was determining the best temperature for analyzing the development of Listeria in ready-to-eat foods, so companies can accurately predict safe and efficient best-by dates for consumers.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Listeria poses a serious risk to pregnant people, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems. It notes that about 260 people die in the United States every year from Listeria infections. 

While this update is mostly aimed at scientists and food safety officials, it does offer a practical reminder for people at home to check the temperature of your fridge. Although the authors did not create new consumer recommendations, the average home refrigerator temperature they gauged emphasizes that your own refrigerator might not be cold enough to align with what food safety professionals recommend.

If you’re looking for a straightforward guideline to follow in your own home, then keeping your refrigerator at 4°C (39.2°F) — as recommended by both the FDA and Codex Alimentarius — is a good rule of thumb.

You should also make sure to check your fridge temperature every now and then, as external factors like overpacking, frequent door openings, and warmer kitchen temperatures can cause its temperature to drift. Want to double down? Invest in a fridge thermometer to give you greater peace of mind.