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Food Poisoning More Likely at Home than at a Restaurant

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Icecool Trailers

Among the many industries we serve at Icecool Trailers is the restaurant industry. We provide restaurants with portable freezers and refrigerators for catered events, outdoor festivals, and the like. We also provide emergency refrigeration for the restaurant that suffers a mechanical breakdown of owned equipment. Therefore, we know that most restaurants take great care to ensure that both refrigeration and food storage practices are safe and in compliance with regulations. Consumers are more likely to get food poisoning at home than at a restaurant as a result of refrigeration issues.

Recent official statistics from the Food Standards Agency and UK Health Security Agency reveal alarming gaps in home food safety practices. According to the FSA's Food and You 2 survey (Wave 10, conducted October 2024 - February 2025), only 60% of UK adults correctly know the recommended refrigerator temperature range of 0-5°C, and only the same proportion actually monitor their fridge temperatures.

The research indicates several concerning home refrigeration practices:

These lapses in home food safety help explain why the FSA estimates approximately 2.4 million cases of foodborne illness occur annually in the UK. More concerning still, food poisoning cases reached decade-high levels in 2024, with Campylobacter and Salmonella infections each rising 17.1% compared to 2023 (UK Health Security Agency, 2024).

The Temperature Gap: Why Home Refrigerators Are Food Safety Risks

Whilst commercial kitchens are required by law to maintain refrigerators between 0°C and 5°C with regular monitoring and documentation, the FSA's latest Food and You 2 survey reveals that only 60% of UK households even know this is the recommended temperature range. Even more concerning, the same research shows that only 60% actually monitor their fridge temperatures at all. This means that a significant portion of British households may be storing food at dangerously warm temperatures without realising it, creating ideal conditions for bacterial growth.

The consequences of this temperature gap became starkly apparent in 2024, when food poisoning cases in England reached their highest levels in a decade. According to the UK Health Security Agency, Campylobacter infections jumped 17.1% to over 70,000 cases, whilst Salmonella infections similarly rose 17.1% to more than 10,000 cases. Many of these infections can be traced back to improper home refrigeration practices. In contrast, commercial establishments using professional equipment – including emergency refrigeration solutions from providers like Icecool Trailers when their own systems fail – maintain the strict temperature controls that dramatically reduce foodborne illness risks. The difference is not just regulatory compliance; it is a fundamental commitment to food safety that begins with reliable, properly monitored refrigeration equipment.

Commercial Controls in Place

Consumers are a lot less likely to experience food poisoning as a result of visiting a local restaurant. Why? Because strict controls are in place. Those controls have to do with things such as refrigeration temperatures, freezer temperatures, how various food items are stored, and how long food can remain on premises before it must be discarded. Commercial premises are routinely inspected to make sure they are in compliance.

We know first-hand how strict the regulations can be inasmuch as we have to deliver refrigerated trailers and walk-in cold rooms that are in compliance. We also have to maintain that equipment at all times. We know that restaurants and other commercial enterprises require strict temperature control and reliable equipment that will not open them to liability risks due to food poisoning.

Cross-Contamination: The Hidden Danger in Home Refrigerators

One of the most significant differences between commercial and home food storage practices involves preventing cross-contamination. The FSA's Food and You 2 survey found that only 62% of UK adults store raw meat at the bottom of the fridge, where dripping juices cannot contaminate ready-to-eat foods below. This means that more than a third of British households are inadvertently creating conditions where harmful bacteria from raw meat can drip onto prepared foods, salads, or dairy products – a practice that would result in immediate regulatory action in any commercial kitchen.

Adding to this risk, the FSA Consumer Insights Tracker from November 2025 revealed that 62% of people would defrost meat or poultry at room temperature rather than in the refrigerator. This practice allows bacteria to multiply rapidly in the outer layers of meat whilst the centre remains frozen, creating a particularly dangerous situation. Commercial food establishments understand these risks intimately, which is why they follow strict protocols for defrosting, storage separation, and temperature control. When a restaurant's refrigeration equipment fails, the immediate response is to secure emergency cold storage – such as refrigerated trailers from Icecool Trailers – rather than risk cross-contamination or improper temperatures. These professional-grade units maintain the consistent temperatures and organised storage capacity that prevent the cross-contamination issues so prevalent in home kitchens, demonstrating why commercial food safety standards remain significantly higher than domestic practices.

If your restaurant or catering company is in need of temporary refrigeration for emergencies or scheduled events, we encourage you to call us at Icecool Trailers. We carry several different sizes of both trailers and walk-in rooms for refrigeration and freezing. We will deliver and set up your unit, connect it to your power source, and make sure everything is up and running properly. At the end of the lease, we will disassemble and take the unit away as well.