You’re doing it all wrong.

A recent study revealed that nearly a fifth of households keep their refrigerators at the incorrect temperature, according to researchers from RMIT University in Australia.

“Most households blamed their own behaviors, such as reading the use-by date wrong, before considering their fridge might be the culprit,” Dr. Bhavna Middha, the lead author of the study, said in releasing the new report.

Although researchers recommend refrigerated items should be kept between 35.6°F to 44.6°F, 17% of people keep their fridges warmer or cooler than that.

“When food is too warm, bacteria multiply too fast,” Middha explained. “When food is too cold, it can freeze or get freezer burn. Both conditions lead to food spoiling.”

Researchers said that households not following the proper fridge and freezer temperature range often have to toss their food out sooner than expected because it’s gone bad.

The experts, supported by Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre and Meat and Livestock Australia, added that Australians dispose of at least 140,300 tons of meat a year. To combat the amount of wasted food in households, researchers studied fridge and freezer temperatures in 56 homes.

Researchers noticed inconsistent temperatures in fridges. Some shelves were as high as 50°F while others dropped as low as 30°F.

However, households with children often experienced fluctuating temperatures because the fridge was opened up to 20 times a day.

“Research found households are unaware their fridges could be making their food spoil faster, especially if the fridge temperature is warmer than the standard,” Middha added.

Even food in the freezer became a victim to wrong temperatures, with 43% of freezers tested as warmer or cooler than the suggested range of 5°F and -4°F.

Confusion in temperatures also could be attributed to various sources sharing inconsistent numbers regarding the safest practices.

“Many households we interviewed said conflicting information about how long food can be kept in the fridge,” said Middha. “A lot of leftovers and uncooked meat was discarded just in case it was unsafe to consume.”

The alarming number of households following inaccurate food storage protocols has researchers wanting people to bring awareness to food safety.

“A one-stop advice platform for food storage could be a really useful tool to combat all the conflicting food storage advice that’s confusing households,” Middha suggested.