How cold should your fridge be? The right setting and what goes where.

By Frigo · Updated: October 2026

Most fridges show a setting, not a temperature. This guide shows which temperature authorities and consumer organisations recommend, where the fridge is coldest, how to measure properly and which mistakes push the temperature up. Pick your country and you see only what the bodies there recommend.

Who this guide is for

• Households that want to know whether their fridge is set correctly
• Anyone with a second fridge in the cellar, garage or holiday home
• Anyone who travels often and leaves the fridge unattended for longer

Different rules apply to restaurants and retail, see the guide to cold room monitoring. For medicines in the fridge there is a separate guide: medicine fridge monitoring.

How cold should a fridge be?

There is no legal temperature for the fridge in a private household. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) states explicitly that there is no general temperature requirement for storing food at home. What exists are recommendations. They are close to each other, but not identical:

Body	Recommendation
BfR (Germany)	no more than 7 °C, better below 5 °C
Verbraucherzentrale (Germany)	no warmer than 7 °C, measured on the top shelf
BZfE (Germany)	about 7 °C on the middle shelf
AGES (Austria)	1 to 5 °C
Konsument (Austria)	ideally 5 to 8 °C (2019), average of about 7 °C (2012)
FSVO (Switzerland)	meat, poultry, fish and seafood below 5 °C
Canton of Aargau (Switzerland)	perishable food at no more than 5 °C

The figure alone says little if it is unclear where it is measured. The Verbraucherzentrale relates its 7 °C to the top shelf, the BZfE to the middle shelf, Konsument to the average. The BfR also refers to the WHO, according to which cooked and perishable food should preferably be stored below 5 °C. If you store a lot of meat, fish or leftovers, the lower value is the safe side.

Minced meat has its own value: the Verbraucherzentrale and the BfR refer to the 2 °C stated on the pack. If that cannot be kept, minced meat should be used on the day of purchase.

Temperature zones: what goes where?

Cold air sinks. That is why the fridge is not equally cold everywhere. The exact layout depends on the model and is described in the instruction manual. The overview below summarises what the BfR, BZfE, AGES and Konsument name consistently:

Area	Suitable for
Bottom shelf above the vegetable drawer	The coldest spot. Raw meat, poultry and raw fish, well wrapped so that nothing drips.
Middle shelves	Milk and dairy products.
Top shelf	Cheese, cold meats and prepared dishes, covered.
Vegetable drawer	Fruit and vegetables that tolerate cold. According to the BZfE it is two to three degrees warmer here than the average.
Door	The warmest spot. Butter, sauces, opened drinks and anything else that needs little cooling.
Chill zone (if fitted)	According to the Verbraucherzentrale designed for 0 to 3 °C, for fish, meat and sausage or, in the humid drawer, for salad, fruit and vegetables.

Not everything belongs in the fridge. AGES names citrus fruit, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes and onions as foods for a cool, dark place outside the fridge. On eggs the bodies disagree: Konsument names the door, the BZfE the middle shelf because it is colder there.

The BfR also advises storing food covered or in closed containers, and AGES advises keeping raw and cooked food separate.

Why the dial setting is not a temperature

Many fridges have a dial with settings instead of a temperature display. A setting is not a degree. How cold a given setting gets depends on the appliance, how full it is and the room temperature. Konsument advises setting the dial with the ambient temperature in mind. Which direction means colder is stated in the instruction manual.

A built-in display, too, shows only the value at the position of its sensor. According to a survey cited by the BfR, only about half of the respondents have a display or a separate thermometer in their fridge at all.

Measuring properly with a thermometer

1. Use a fridge thermometer. The Verbraucherzentrale recommends measuring if in doubt.
2. Choose the position to match the recommendation. The Verbraucherzentrale measures on the top shelf, the BZfE relates its 7 °C to the middle shelf.
3. Measure in several places. The BfR advises checking the temperature regularly at different spots. That shows you how big the difference between top, bottom and door is in your appliance.
4. Do not read it right after opening or loading. The air inside is briefly warmer then.
5. Adjust the dial and measure again. Change only one setting at a time so you can see the effect.

Common mistakes

Door open too often or too long

The BfR and AGES advise opening the door only briefly and closing it again straight away. The Verbraucherzentrale recommends putting a large shop away in one go rather than opening the door several times.

Overfilled

If the fridge is too full, the cold air can no longer circulate and the temperature rises. The BfR, the Verbraucherzentrale and Konsument point this out. Konsument also notes that a well-stocked fridge cools more efficiently than a half-empty one, as long as nothing is packed tightly.

Warm food

For energy reasons the Verbraucherzentrale advises letting food cool completely before it goes into the fridge. From a food safety point of view, however, leftovers should not stand around for long: the BfR recommends cooling them to below 7 °C within a few hours and dividing larger amounts into shallow dishes. AGES advises cooling cooked food quickly in small portions, for example in a cold water bath, and then refrigerating it. According to the BfR, leftovers should be eaten within two to three days.

Leaking door seal

A seal that does not close properly lets warm air in. The Verbraucherzentrale suggests a simple test: clamp a strip of paper in the door. If it slides out easily, the seal should be replaced. Konsument advises cleaning the seals regularly.

Ice build-up and a poor location

According to the BfR, appliances without automatic defrosting should be defrosted regularly. According to the energy advice service of the Canton of Aargau, an ice layer of just five millimetres raises power consumption by about 30 per cent. The Verbraucherzentrale advises against placing the fridge next to the cooker, a radiator or in the sun.

Energy or safety?

Every degree colder costs electricity. The Verbraucherzentrale gives about 6 per cent more consumption per degree, the energy advice service of the Canton of Aargau about 10 per cent. The figures are estimates and depend on the appliance.

Setting it warmer is not unlimited, though. The BfR describes the difference like this: if a fridge at 4 °C is set up to 2 °C warmer, this hardly affects the safety and quality of most food. If it is raised by up to 2 °C from 7 °C, however, food can spoil faster and pathogens can multiply. In other words: it does not need to be unnecessarily cold, but it should not go above 7 °C.

Freezer compartment and freezer: −18 °C

For the freezer compartment or freezer, the BfR, the Verbraucherzentrale and AGES name −18 °C. Under the German ordinance on frozen foods (TLMV), deep-frozen foods must be at −18 °C or colder. AGES recommends −18 °C or colder, the Verbraucherzentrale calls −18 °C optimal. According to the Verbraucherzentrale, freezing fresh food requires a four-star compartment. Compartments with one to three stars are only suitable for storing food that is already frozen for a short time.

What applies to frozen food during a power cut is covered in the guide chest freezer power outage.

Austria: AGES and Konsument

What the bodies say

• AGES: 1 to 5 °C is optimal. Below 5 °C most germs grow more slowly or not at all. It is coldest above the vegetable drawer, which is where meat and fish belong. The vegetable drawer and the door are among the warmest areas. For the freezer AGES recommends −18 °C or colder.
• Konsument (VKI): names 5 to 8 °C as the ideal temperature (2019) and, in an older article (2012), advises an average of about 7 °C. The top and the vegetable drawer are then at around 9 °C, the bottom at around 4 °C.

The two bodies do not recommend the same: the AGES range is clearly lower. Both are recommendations, not regulations for private households.

Germany: BfR, Verbraucherzentrale and BZfE

What the bodies say

• BfR: set the fridge to no more than 7 °C, better below 5 °C. Raw meat, poultry and fish belong on the bottom shelf above the vegetable drawer, near the back wall, or in a 0 °C compartment.
• Verbraucherzentrale: no warmer than 7 °C on the top shelf. If you often store minced meat, you can set the fridge to 2 °C. Every degree colder raises power consumption by about 6 per cent.
• BZfE: about 7 °C on the middle shelf. The bottom shelf is then the coldest spot, the vegetable drawer two to three degrees warmer than the average, the door the warmest.

These are recommendations, not regulations for private households. What is binding is the −18 °C for deep-frozen foods under the TLMV.

Switzerland: FSVO and cantons

What the bodies say

• FSVO: store meat, poultry, fish and seafood in the fridge below 5 °C. Keep perishable food and leftovers cool, and put chilled products in the fridge straight after shopping.
• Canton of Aargau, energy advice: store perishable food at no more than 5 °C. In the freezer −18 °C is enough.
• Canton of Zurich, Cantonal Laboratory: no more than 5 °C applies to most products, frozen food at −18 °C or colder. The page is aimed mainly at food businesses.

The Swiss bodies name 5 °C, which is lower than the 7 °C used as the upper limit in Germany. For private households these are recommendations, not regulations.

Where a manual check leaves gaps

• Second fridge in the cellar or garage. You rarely look in there. Cold rooms add another problem: according to Konsument, appliances in climate class N are designed for room temperatures of 16 to 32 °C, class SN for 10 to 32 °C. If it gets colder, the freezer compartment of a combined appliance can start to thaw.
• Holiday home. The fridge often runs for weeks without anyone checking. More in the guide holiday home monitoring.
• Holidays. A fault or an open door on the first day is noticed only on your return.
• Summer and heat. When the room temperature rises, the appliance has to work harder. A weak seal then matters more.
• No record. A thermometer shows the moment, not the history. You cannot see whether it was warm at night or while you were away.

What a sensor adds

A sensor measures temperature and relative humidity around the clock, alerts the people you name by app and email as soon as the temperature leaves your limit, and writes every deviation to a continuous, time-stamped record. Where useful, a door or opening contact can also be used. The sensors stick on, with no drilling and no cables.

Important: Frigo measures the air temperature at the sensor's location, not the temperature of the food. It does not cool anything and does not control the fridge. Place the sensor where you would put the thermometer, and set the limit to match that position.

If power fails, the connectivity unit keeps running on its built-in battery for about four hours. During that time Frigo keeps measuring and alerts you when the temperature leaves your limit, as long as the mobile network is available. Once the battery is empty, Frigo reports that the connectivity unit has stopped sending data. The sensors do not store readings, so there is no data for that period. New readings arrive once the connectivity unit has power again. If a sensor or the connectivity unit stops sending data, Frigo alerts the named people.

How the system is built is explained under How does Frigo work?.

Four things to set per appliance

1. the position in the fridge where it is measured
2. the limit at which an alert is sent, in line with the recommendation in your country
3. who is notified, including at night and on holiday
4. who checks on site and what to do then

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR): Correct cooling of food in private households (FAQ, 13 Feb 2023, Germany, in German)
• Verbraucherzentrale: Buying and storing food safely (as of 1 Dec 2025, Germany, in German)
• Verbraucherzentrale: How to find the right fridge (as of 21 Sep 2026, Germany, in German)
• Verbraucherzentrale: Saving electricity at home (as of 20 Aug 2026, Germany, in German)
• Federal Centre for Nutrition (BZfE): Storing food correctly (as of 20 Feb 2025, Germany, in German)
• AGES: Cooking safely (updated 21 Jul 2025, Austria, in German)
• Konsument (VKI): Cooling fridges correctly (27 Jun 2019, Austria, in German)
• Konsument (VKI): Cooling and freezing (21 Jun 2012, Austria, in German)
• Konsument (VKI): Fridge in an unheated cellar (25 Oct 2017, Austria, in German)
• Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO/BLV): Hygiene when handling food (undated, accessed October 2026, Switzerland, in German)
• Canton of Aargau, energieberatungAARGAU: Energy-saving tips for cooking (23 Jun 2025, Switzerland, in German)
• Canton of Zurich, Cantonal Laboratory: Handling food (undated, accessed October 2026, Switzerland, in German)

This article is guidance, not legal advice and not health advice. It reproduces recommendations from authorities and consumer organisations, which can differ. What counts are the applicable regulations, the advice of the competent authorities and the information from the manufacturer of your appliance. Frigo measures the air temperature at the sensor's location, not the temperature of the food, and does not cool or control anything. Alerts require a working connection. During a power cut the connectivity unit keeps running on its built-in battery for about four hours, after that Frigo reports that the connectivity unit has stopped sending data. Sources as of: October 2026.