Should leftovers be placed in the refrigerator while they are still hot, or should they be stored when they are cool?

　　Our reporter Li Jian

　　Should the leftovers that can’t be eaten be stored in the refrigerator immediately, or should they be stored after they have cooled down?

Does putting hot dishes in the fridge really ruin the fridge?

Many people have struggled with these issues.

Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Communication Department and associate research librarian of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, said in an interview with a reporter from China Consumer News that the real scientific approach is to put the unfinished food in the refrigerator while it is still hot. Safety.

And refrigerators aren't as fragile as many feared.

　　Ruan Guangfeng explained that when the temperature of a hot meal begins to drop gradually from the time it is out of the pot, the bacteria that are eyeing for it in the air begin to "settle in".

The study found that when the temperature of the food dropped to 60°C, bacteria began to grow; when the temperature dropped to 30-40°C, the bacteria began to multiply vigorously; and when the temperature dropped to 4°C, most bacteria stopped and entered a dormant state.

Therefore, only by quickly cooling the food to below 4 °C can it be beneficial to inhibit the reproduction of bacteria and make the food safer, which requires us to put the food in the refrigerator as soon as possible.

The World Health Organization also recommends that food be kept at room temperature for no more than 2 hours.

　　As many people worry that the refrigerator will be broken, in fact, there is no need to worry.

From the perspective of the refrigerator, hot meals may indeed affect the cooling effect for a certain period of time, but the impact is not as big as everyone thinks.

Under normal circumstances, when a cool refrigerator encounters a "break-in" of hot food, the internal temperature detection and feedback system will start the cooling process in time, thereby lowering the temperature in the refrigerator.

The short and small heating process will not have much impact on other foods in the refrigerator or the refrigerator itself.

　　Of course, there are also people who worry that the food will be overheated and the glass divider in the refrigerator will not be able to withstand the "stimulation".

This problem is actually very easy to solve. You can put a clean towel under the food container, or you can wait for the temperature of the food to drop to a level that is not hot to the hand (during this process, it is best to cover the container that holds the food), then you can put it in the refrigerator .