Is 75°C a Legal Requirement for Cooking Food in Scotland?

No — 75°C is not written into Scottish law as a universal cooking requirement

This is one of the most widespread misconceptions in food safety training. 75°C is a broadly recognised benchmark for pathogen reduction in many high-risk foods, and it appears frequently in training materials and inspection discussions. But it is not a statutory cooking temperature prescribed in Schedule 4 of the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in the way that 63°C is for hot holding or 82°C is for reheating.

The legal obligation for cooking in Scotland is outcome-based: food must be cooked so that it does not present a risk to health. That is a different kind of obligation from a prescribed numeric threshold, and the distinction matters. 75°C functions as a practical reference point, not a figure with direct statutory force of its own. How that applies in practice is examined in the Temperature Control publication.

Where the figure sits

The figure of 75°C is widely referenced in national guidance and training materials as a recognised indicator of adequate heat treatment for many high-risk foods. It is a practical and well-established reference point, but in Scotland it does not arise from a threshold written directly into statute in the same way that some other temperature figures do.

What that means for how cooking is assessed in practice — and how the figure sits within the wider regulatory position — is examined in the Temperature Control publication.

Why the benchmark still matters

The guidance status of 75°C does not reduce its practical significance. It remains a widely applied reference point in cooking assessment. Understanding what it represents, and what sits behind it, is part of understanding how cooking is approached in Scotland.

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