Food expert explains grim reason why you shouldn't put warm leftovers in fridge
Food expert explains grim reason why you shouldn't put warm leftovers in fridge
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If you're guilty of chucking hot leftovers straight into the fridge, food policy expert Gavin Wren's 'scientific' experiment might just make you think twice. Wren delved into the nitty-gritty of fridge temperatures and their fluctuations by placing three temperature data loggers in different zones of his fridge – one nestled in the salad drawer, another at the back of the middle shelf, and a third at the front of the top shelf.
"These three areas of the fridge will respond very differently to things like, the door being left open, putting hot food in, or adding new shopping into the fridge," he said. To show his findings, Wren created an interactive graph that demonstrated the temperature shifts when hot food enters the cool confines of the fridge, reports the Express.
For instance, at 7am, a forgetful moment led to the fridge door staying ajar, causing the top shelf to soar to nearly nine degrees, the middle shelf to seven degrees, while the salad drawer remained unaffected. Exploring his investigation further, Wren introduced a saucepan of lukewarm rice to the bottom shelf, which surprisingly also had a "minor impact on the salad drawer too".
At 7pm, Gavin was in the kitchen utilising ingredients from his fridge to rustle up some grub. He subsequently dished it out and stashed it on the top shelf of his fridge, explaining: "The top shelf went up to a massive 18 degrees and it took four hours to come back down to a normal temperature.".
This isn't just troubling for your fridge's efficiency; it can prematurely spoil your other nosh too. Gavin said: "This would make something like milk go off ten times faster than normal. And that's precisely why you're supposed to let food cool before you put them in the fridge.".
