After making a soup, I have heard that it will spoil if put in the refrigerator hot,Is this true?

Answer 1

It is dangerous to put hot foods into the fridge.
It will raise the temperature of the refriderator, and everything inside could go bad. If your refridgerator temperature is ove 41degrees farenheit, you have a problem.

There is the temperature "danger zone" its between 45degrees and 135 degrees fahrenheit. If the food is between those 2 temperatures for more than 4 hours it is not safe to eat. Since the soup is hot when you put it in the refrigerator, it can't get cold enough withing 4 hours.

The best way to cool a large pot of soup is to put it into small shallow containers. Stirring helps alot, and you can get special stirrers that you fill with water and freeze. When you stir the soup with them it cools it much faster. Or if you're cheap you can use a soda bottle the same way.
In restaurants food has to be cooled to 75 degrees within 2 hours and then to 45degrees in another two hours, but at home, you don't really need to be so technical about it.

Answer 2

No, it's not true that the soup will spoil. Putting hot soup (and hot food) in the fridge will raise your electricity bill because the refrigerator will need to use a lot of extra energy to bring the temperature down.

Answer 3

When I make soup, I put it into tupperware containers for portion control (serves 2 per container). I put it straight from the hot pot to the fridge but the containers cool down pretty fast. I haven't lost other foods in my fridge and hubby and I might get a cold one time a year maximum but no other illnesses ever. Have been doing that for the 24 yrs we've been married and no problem.

In fact, to me, allowing it to cool down to room temperature will allow it to go into the danger zone as it cools (below 140º) until you get it into the fridge. Who knows what mold spores are floating around in the air that could land on the soup on the stove or counter waiting to cool. I make a lot of broths by cooking bones, skin, fat, etc. and put the whole pot in our refrigerator in the garage (that one contains only cabbage for our critters) - haven't lost any critters or cabbage yet. Then I skim off the cold fat, and put the broth into the tupperware containers and freeze to turn into soup later.

The fridge might work a little harder but it hasn't thawed the bread in the freezer (also for the critters) and hasn't frozen the cabbage or caused the cabbage to have a shorter life-span.

I know you need your cold food to be cold (below 38º) and hot food hot (140º and above) so anything between those two is not good. By refrigerating it straight away, it will get it down to the 38º or lower quicker than sitting out for a couple of hours trying to get to room temperature and THEN trying to get down to 38º.

Answer 4

No this is not true. What is true is that you will create a lot of steam heat in your refrigerator that will interfere with the automatic temperature for a little while and may increase the temperature to interefere with something else you have under refrigeration.

Answer 5

YES! It's true. Your food is hot and you automatically put it into the refrigerator. You should wait until it gets cooler.

that's what i wrote before
I checked on the Internet to be sure and

Hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator or it can be rapidly chilled in an ice or cold water bath before refrigerating. Cover foods to retain moisture and prevent them from picking up odors from other foods.

A large pot of food like soup or stew should be divided into small portions and put in shallow containers before being refrigerated. A large cut of meat or whole poultry should be divided into smaller pieces and wrapped separately or placed in shallow containers before refrigerating.

I checked 3 websites just to be sure and you CAN put in your food when its hot...but i still don't believe it

Answer 6

What is the safest way to cool food down?
Always maintain the fridge's inner temp at around 40 degrees. If you can't put the food into smaller containers and into ice to cool down quicker before storing.

The cooling process after cooking is often when bugs start to grow; this generally occurs between 60°C and 50°C. The longer food takes to cool down, the greater the opportunity for nasties to multiply. Food should be cooled as quickly as possible, for example in less than two hours after cooking.

Cooling methods to improve food safety include:
Once food has stopped steaming, place it in the fridge.
Cut food into smaller pieces to speed up the cooling-down process.
Use appropriately sized containers, for example, shallow containers for foods that are liquid or pourable.
Create an opportunity for air to flow around the food (while covered).

Answer 7

A large volume might. If your not nuts like me and don't make gallons at a time, you should be okay. I make mine in a ten quart pot, then let it sit, covered, at room temperature until it cools, then put it in the icebox. (That'd be the refrigerator). I then have a nice soup for the family lunch for the next week.

Answer 8

putting hot food into the refrigerator can cause food poisoning,you need it to be cold.

Answer 9

I MADE TONS OF SOUP YRSTERDAY , 10 LBS OF POTATOES AND EVERYTTHING IN A CAN I COULD THINK OF , LEFT OUT ON COUNTER AFTER THEY ATE LAST NIGHT TO MAKE SURE IT WAS COOL , PUT IN GLASS BOWLS IN ICEBOX , TODAY ALL SPOILED WHAT DID I DO WRONG TWICE , I AM SICK