Mellow Cooling Mode
A Food Safety Statement
Mellow follows the FDA food safety guide to make sure ingredients are safe. From the moment
you insert your food inside the water bath, it is cooled down to a safe temperature and stay like
that until the moment it is time to cook.
Depending on the amount of water and room temperature, Mellow may take a few hours to cool
down but even on the most extreme cases it still reaches FDA recommended temperature and
time limit to keep your food safe. The following table depicts the maximum holding times from
30ºF to 125ºF based on FDA code time-temperature controls [1], using the Ratkowsky bacterial
growth prediction equation [2]:

These times are derived from the growth of pathogenic microorganisms in food. They are based
on the cold holding standard established in the FDA Food Code that food at 41°F can be held

 for 7 days. These times at specified temperatures are based on the assumption that the food is
of average quality when obtained from the food market or supplier.
The published FDA 2013 Food Code also dictates that:
“If time without temperature control is used as the public health control up to a maximum of 4
hours, the food shall have an initial temperature of 5ºC (41ºF) or less when removed from cold
holding temperature control, or 57ºC (135ºF) or greater when removed from hot holding
temperature control. (...) If time without temperature control is used as the public health control
up to a maximum of 6 hours, the food shall have an initial temperature of 5ºC (41ºF) or less
when removed from temperature control and the food temperature may not exceed 21ºC (70ºC)
within a maximum time period of 6 hours.” ​[3]
According to V.K. Juneja - who is a researcher of Residue Chemistry and Predictive
Microbiology for the USDA’s Eastern Regional Research Center, Pennsylvania - as storage
temperature decreases, the rate of growth of pathogens decreases. For example, the growth of
pathogenic strains of ​listeria monocytogenes ​in fish at temperatures between 71-86ºF (22-30ºC)
becomes an hazard after 3 hours, but if the fish is kept under 70ºF (21ºC) the maximum
cumulative exposure times increases to 7 hours. These maximum exposure time can be
extended to 1 day, if the fish is kept under 50ºF (10ºC) or even 7 days, if the temperature is as
low as 31.3.-41ºF (-0.4 -5ºC). [4]
Given this example of pathogenic growth, the popular “danger zone” (between 40ºF to 140ºF) is
not exactly right and is scientifically wrong to take it literally. In fact, food pathogens can multiply
between 29.7ºF and 126.1ºF, while spoilage bacteria begin multiplying at 23ºF [3, 5, 6]. The
available info is often generalized and we are taught that food pathogens do not multiply below
40ºF because it take days for food pathogens to grow to a dangerous level at this temperature.
What’s important to understand is that although Mellow may take few hours to reach the 40ºF
mark, it reaches 70ºF and consequently 50ºF quickly enough to maintain the ingredient safe
until it reaches 40ºF and below.

 References
[1] Snyder, O.P. 1998. Updated guidelines for use of time and temperature specifications for holding and storing food in retail food
operations. Dairy Food Environ. Sanit. 18(9):574-579.
[2] Ratkowsky, D. A., R. K. Lowry, T. A. McMeekin, A. N. Stokes, and R. E. Chandler. 1983. Model for bacterial culture growth rate
throughout the entire biokinetic temperature range. J. Bacteriol. 154(3):1222-1226.
[3] ​U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ​FDA Food Code​, c2013
[4] ​U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ​Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and
Controls Guidance​, 2011, fourth edition
[5] Snyder, Jr., O.P., 2006. Food Safety Hazards and Controls for the Home Food Preparer. Technical Report. Hospitality Institute of
Technology and Management.
[6] Juneja, V.K., Whiting, R.C., Marks, H.M., Snyder,O.P., 1999. Predictive model for growth of Clostridium perfrigens at
temperatures applicable to cooling of cooked meat. Food Microbiology 16, 335-349