Irish law sets no general chill or hot-holding temperature (the EU 853/2004 limits for meat, poultry and minced meat still apply in approved establishments): Regulation 852/2004 applies directly, and the FSAI advises keeping chilled food at 0 to 5 °C and hot food above 63 °C. Unlike the UK, Irish law fixes how long HSE-supervised food businesses (most caterers and retailers) must keep HACCP records: three months after the use-by date, one year after the best-before date, and three months after sale for food for immediate consumption. Businesses under S.I. 22/2020 (DAFM, SFPA and local-authority supervision) have no fixed period.
Why it matters
Same EU rule, different figures
Many food businesses trade across the Irish Sea, and a procedure written for England does not transfer cleanly. Ireland applies the EU hygiene regulations directly, with no 8 °C offence, so the working figures come from FSAI guidance and the Irish Standards. For HSE-supervised businesses, Ireland also fixes HACCP record periods in law, which the UK does not (the UK fixes a period only for quick-frozen food records).
Northern Ireland sits between the two: it has the same Schedule 4 figures as England, but EU hygiene law continues to apply there under the Windsor Framework.
What the rules say
Irish law: which instrument, and what it fixes
Regulation 852/2004 applies directly. For businesses supervised by the HSE, most caterers and retailers, it is given effect by the European Communities (Hygiene of Foodstuffs) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 369 of 2006); for those supervised by the Department of Agriculture, the SFPA or local authorities, by the European Union (Food and Feed Hygiene) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 22 of 2020). S.I. No. 432 of 2009, often still quoted, was revoked in 2019.
Neither sets a chill or hot-holding figure. The duty is the EU one in Annex II, Chapter IX: food 'not to be kept at temperatures that might result in a risk to health' and 'the cold chain is not to be interrupted'. What S.I. 369/2006 does fix is record retention: Regulation 5 makes it an offence not to keep HACCP records for three months after the 'use by' date, one year after the 'best before' date, and three months after sale for food for immediate consumption.
Frozen food follows S.I. 290/1992: quick-frozen food at −18 °C or lower, rising briefly by not more than 3 °C in transport, with local distribution and retail tolerances that 'shall not exceed 3°C'. Recording follows Regulation (EC) No 37/2005, which applies directly (and is still listed alongside S.I. 370/1995): transport, warehousing and storage need recording instruments meeting EN 12830, and recordings are dated and kept for at least one year, or longer depending on the nature and shelf life of the food. Retail cabinets and local distribution may use an easily visible thermometer instead.
The FSAI figures
The FSAI's temperature control advice says fridges 'should be set at a temperature that will ensure that the temperature of the food is between 0° C and 5° C', adding that fridges set at 3 °C or 4 °C will generally do this. Hot food is held above 63 °C or used within two hours of cooking; reheating is once, to 70 °C or more at the core; cooked food goes into the fridge within two hours. Frozen food is held at −18 °C or colder.
The guidance notes go further. Guidance Note 15 on cook-chill asks for chilling to 3 °C or below within 150 minutes, storage at 3 °C or below, regeneration to 70 °C, and a five-day shelf life. Guidance Note 20 sets industrial heat-chill profiles and calibration benchmarks: working thermometers at least annually, to ±1.0 °C and preferably ±0.5 °C, with ISO 17025-accredited providers. The voluntary Irish Standards I.S. 340 (catering) and I.S. 341 (retail and wholesale) are on the EU register of national guides.
| Control | England, Wales, NI | Scotland | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chill limit (8 °C) | ✓ | · | · |
| Hot holding 63 °C for food on service or sale | ✓ | · | · |
| Reheating temperature | · | ✓ | · |
| Quick-frozen −18 °C, transport tolerance −15 °C | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quick-frozen retail cabinet −12 °C | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Fixed HACCP record periods (HSE-supervised only, Ireland) | · | · | ✓ |
| Quick-frozen records at least 1 year | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
A tick means the figure is set in that jurisdiction's legislation. Guidance figures (FSA 5 °C, FSAI 0 to 5 °C) are not ticked.
What good looks like
One procedure for both islands
Most differences resolve if you design to the stricter figure. Run chills to 5 °C or below everywhere, which meets the FSAI and the FSA advice and sits under England's 8 °C. Reheat once, to 82 °C in Scotland and to 75 °C at the core elsewhere (which also meets the FSAI's 70 °C). Keep records for the longest period any rule sets, and never less than two years: in practice the BRCGS shelf life plus 12 months will exceed the Irish legal minimums, but check it does for every product.
Worked example
A warm fridge in a Dublin kitchen
This is an illustrative example; times and readings are invented. A restaurant in Dublin works to I.S. 340 and the FSAI's 0 to 5 °C. Its logger shows a fridge above 5 °C from 01:30 to 04:45 after a door was left ajar.
What the kitchen does: the fridge air was above 5 °C for 3 hours 15 minutes, and probing showed the food above 5 °C for most of that time. Under the corrective actions in I.S. 340 (as corrected in 2008), food above 5 °C for between 2 and 4 hours is used immediately or discarded; the chef discards the high-risk items and records why. Without the logger, the morning check would have shown only a reading, not the duration, and the safe choice would have been to discard everything. What changes: a door alarm and a high-temperature alert to the owner's phone.
Where it is unclear
Draft text and missing figures
The FSAI's Guidance Note 18 on shelf life (Revision 5), which gives the ≤5 °C recommendation and the 7 °C and 10 °C test temperatures, carries 'Draft' watermarks in the published PDF, so confirm the final text with the FSAI before quoting it formally. GN15 lists frozen deliveries as '≥ –18 °C', which appears to be a typing error for ≤ −18 °C. And the Irish law is silent on how long a 'brief' frozen rise may last.
The differences between Ireland and the UK are set out case by case under where the rules differ.
Inspection findings
What Irish enforcement shows
The FSAI reported 133 enforcement orders in 2024, 115 of them closures, and named 'failure to maintain correct temperatures of foodstuffs' among the recurring issues. Its 2025 round-up reported 127 orders, and the December 2025 closures included 'an unrefrigerated vehicle for transporting meat with no controls in place to maintain the cold food chain'. The FSAI does not publish how many orders were mainly about temperature.
In summary
The short version
- Ireland applies 852/2004 through S.I. 369/2006 or S.I. 22/2020; S.I. 432/2009 is revoked.
- Irish law sets no general chill or hot-holding figure (853/2004 limits still apply to meat in approved establishments); the FSAI advises 0 to 5 °C and above 63 °C.
- For HSE-supervised businesses, Irish law fixes HACCP record periods: 3 months after use-by, 1 year after best-before. S.I. 22/2020 businesses (DAFM, SFPA, local authority) have no fixed period.
- Quick-frozen: −18 °C, brief 3 °C rises in transport, retail tolerance 3 °C (the UK allows −12 °C in cabinets), and at least one year of records.
- Cook-chill follows GN15: 3 °C or below within 150 minutes.
- For cross-border businesses, design to the stricter figure and record why.