Requirement 3.7 cold chain explained
Requirement 3.7 cold chain (kravpunkt 3.7 kjølekjeden) is the point in Mattilsynet’s smiley inspections that checks that chilled and frozen food is kept at a sufficiently low temperature all the way from delivery to serving. In 2025, 116 restaurants in Norway had a breach of it (grades 2–3), in 127 inspections – number 5 of the 25 requirements (Mattilsynet, data as of 7 Oct 2026).
What the requirement is
The requirement rests on the Norwegian Food Act and the food hygiene regulation (EU regulation 852/2004): whoever runs a restaurant must have routines that keep the cold chain unbroken. In practice, chilled food is kept at the temperature the producer has labelled – Mattilsynet’s advice is 4 °C or colder – and frozen food at −18 °C or colder, from the moment the goods come through the door until they are on the plate. The routines are part of the internal control, and the place must be able to show that the temperature is actually checked.
At an inspection the inspector typically looks at the temperature in fridges, cold rooms, display counters and freezers, at how goods are received and stored, and at the logs. The requirement belongs to the area “food handling and preparation” together with Cooling of hot food (3.9), Thawing (3.10) and Heat treatment (3.8).
The official finding texts
Mattilsynet publishes one standard text per requirement and grade. For 3.7 they read (our translation, the Norwegian original is on the Norwegian page):
- Grade 2 – breach that needs follow-up: “Shortcomings in routines to ensure food is stored at a sufficiently low temperature.”
- Grade 3 – serious breach: “Significant shortcomings in routines to ensure food is stored at a sufficiently low temperature.”
Grade 1 is a minor remark that Mattilsynet does not publish on the smiley site. Restoradar shows it only to registered users, marked “Minor remark – not published by Mattilsynet”, and never counts it as a breach. The inspector’s own notes are not published – the text you see is always the standard text above.
Typical causes
The finding texts are about routines, and it is rarely one big failure. The most common causes behind a finding on 3.7:
- Nobody measures the temperature – or it is measured but not written down. Without a log the place cannot show that the cold chain holds.
- Equipment that does not keep up: overfilled fridges, worn door seals, ice on the evaporator, a display counter in the sun or next to the stove.
- Doors and routines in the rush: the fridge door stays open during service, goods sit on the counter for a long time before they go back in the cold.
- Deliveries: the temperature of chilled goods is not checked on arrival, or the goods are left on the loading dock.
- Nights and weekends: a compressor failure or power cut is discovered the next morning, and nobody knows how long the goods have been warm.
- A manual log that does not add up: the sheet shows the same number every day – an inspector spots it quickly.
What a supplier of temperature monitoring solves
Automatic temperature monitoring – wireless sensors in every fridge, cold room and freezer, with alarms and a log that writes itself – addresses almost every point above. The place gets:
- Documentation without work: the temperature is logged continuously, and the log can be shown at the inspection. That is what grade 2 asks for.
- A warning before the goods are lost: an alarm by SMS or app when the temperature rises, at night too. That saves both the goods and the next inspection.
- Proof for the internal control: the cold-chain routine in the internal control (requirement Internal control (1.4)) becomes something that actually happens, not just a sheet in a binder.
Refrigeration service and new equipment solve the other half – seals, defrosting, a counter in the right place. The Fit column on the industry page shows how directly each requirement addresses temperature monitoring: 3.7 is “high”, cooling and thawing “medium”.
How many places does it concern?
In 2025, 116 restaurants had a breach of 3.7 (grades 2–3). For comparison, 590 places had a breach of at least one requirement the same year, so the cold chain accounted for 19.7% of the places with breaches. Looking at the whole temperature area – cold chain, cooling, thawing, heat treatment and internal control – 250 places had a breach of one or more of these requirements in 2025.
- Cold chain (3.7): 116 places
- Cooling of hot food (3.9): 90 places
- Thawing (3.10): 14 places
- Heat treatment (3.8): 31 places
- Internal control (1.4): 113 places
The industry page Temperature and refrigeration shows the last two years with numbers per county and municipality, and every county has its own page – for example Oslo, Vestland, Trøndelag, Rogaland and Akershus. The list on the home page can be filtered by the industry “Temperature and refrigeration” and by severity; without names for everyone, with names and addresses for registered companies.
How to read a finding on 3.7
- Date: a finding applies to the day of the inspection. A place with a breach three weeks ago is in the middle of its follow-up; a place with a breach two years ago has most likely sorted it out.
- Status now: the “Status” column shows the current face. A tick with a date means a later inspection ended “In order”.
- Repetition: “All findings” for one place shows whether the cold chain keeps coming back – a stronger signal than a single finding.
- Grade 3 on 3.7 is rare and serious: significant shortcomings in the routines, not just a missing log.
More about the scheme and the grades: Smiley, neutral face and sad face – what do the grades mean? How to use the findings in sales: How to use Mattilsynet’s inspection data in sales.
Sources
- Mattilsynet: Dette ser vi etter på smilefjestilsyn (Norwegian) – the 25 requirements, the cold chain as 3.7.
- Mattilsynet: Smilefjestilsyn (Norwegian) – the grades, follow-up and publication.
- Lovdata: Næringsmiddelhygieneforskriften (regulation (EC) No 852/2004).
- Open data: Smilefjestilsyn on data.norge.no (CC BY 4.0), processed by Restoradar, data as of 7 Oct 2026. The finding texts are Mattilsynet’s official texts.
Questions and answers
- How many restaurants had a breach of requirement 3.7 in 2025?
- 116 restaurants in Norway had a breach that needs follow-up or a serious breach (grades 2–3) of requirement 3.7 cold chain in 2025, in 127 inspections (Mattilsynet, data as of 7 Oct 2026).
- Does a cold-chain finding mean the food was unsafe?
- Not necessarily. Grade 2 is “shortcomings in routines” – often a fridge without a log or a temperature nobody checked. Grade 3 is significant shortcomings. Both are about routines and equipment, which is exactly what a supplier can fix.
- Where do I see which places got the finding?
- The list on Restoradar shows the findings without names for everyone; a company with a Norwegian organisation number registers for free and sees the names, addresses and the link to the inspection.
Source: Mattilsynet – smiley inspections (CC BY 4.0) and the Brønnøysund Register Centre – Enhetsregisteret (NLOD), processed by Restoradar. Data as of 7 Oct 2026. Restoradar is not affiliated with Mattilsynet.