An insulated container keeps hot food hot but does not heat it: there is no heater inside, and the food only falls, more slowly, from the temperature at which it went in. The temperature at arrival is therefore set by the departure temperature and the journey time.
Loss grows with the inside-outside gap
Heat flow is proportional to the difference between inside and outside. With 25 °C outside, an 80 °C meal sits 55 degrees above its surroundings and a 5 °C chilled product 20 degrees below; in the same container the hot meal loses heat about 2.75 times as fast.
Where the limit sits. The US FDA Food Code 2022 (section 3-501.16) requires hot-held food at 57 °C or above and cold-held food at 5 °C or below; the range in between suits bacterial growth. The Turkish Food Hygiene Regulation requires transport containers to keep food at a suitable temperature and to allow that temperature to be monitored (Article 13/7).
- Measure departure temperature in the kitchen and arrival temperature at hand-over in the food itself; cabin air does not replace a product reading.
- Do not carry hot and chilled product in the same container; both are pulled into the warm range.
- On a deviation, set the lot aside and keep the decision with the records.
- Ask Aris Makina for the model's suitability with hot food; we obtain it from GEBHARDT and pass it on.
