Mail Order Food Safety
Convenience
means many things to many people, but anything that helps save time is always
high on everyone's list of conveniences. With more Americans working and being
more time-crunched than ever, the ultimate time saver and convenience is home
delivery of mail order foods.While the mail order industry enjoys a good safety record, ordering food through the mail may cause concerns about food safety, shelf life, and distribution. It's imperative to develop some mental checklists for how both food and packaging should look when perishable mail order foods arrive. This is especially true for meat, poultry, fish, and other perishable foods such as cheesecake, which must be carefully handled in a timely manner to prevent foodborne illness.
The following food safety tips will help the purchaser and recipient determine if their perishable foods have been handled properly:
·
Make
sure the company sends perishable items, like meat or poultry, cold or frozen
and packed with a cold source. It should be packed in foam or heavy corrugated
cardboard.
·
The
food should be delivered as quickly as possible — ideally, overnight. Make sure
perishable items and the outer package are labeled "Keep
Refrigerated" to alert the recipient.
·
When
you receive a food item marked "Keep Refrigerated," open it
immediately and check its temperature. The food should arrive frozen or
partially frozen with ice crystals still visible or at least refrigerator
cold—below 40 °F as measured with a food thermometer. Even if a product is
smoked, cured, vacuum-packed, and/or fully cooked, it still is a perishable
product and must be kept cold. If perishable food arrives warm — above 40 °F as
measured with a food thermometer — notify the company. Do not consume the food.
Do not even taste suspect food.
·
Tell
the recipient if the company has promised a delivery date. Or alert the
recipient that "the gift is in the mail" so someone can be there to
receive it. Don't have perishable items delivered to an office unless you know
it will arrive on a work day and there is refrigerator space available for
keeping it cold.
Americans also
enjoy cooking foods that are family favorites and mailing these items to family
and friends. The same rules that cover the mail order industry also apply to
foods prepared and mailed from home. Make sure perishable foods are not held at
temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, the "Danger Zone", for longer
than 2 hours. Pathogenic bacteria can grow rapidly in the "Danger
Zone", but they may not affect the taste, smell, or appearance of a food.
In other words, you cannot tell that a food has been mishandled or is unsafe to
eat.
For perishable foods prepared at home and mailed, follow these guidelines:
For perishable foods prepared at home and mailed, follow these guidelines:
·
Ship
in a sturdy box.
·
Pack
with a cold source, i.e., frozen gel packs or dry ice.
·
When
using dry ice:
o
Don't
touch the dry ice with bare hands.
o
Don't
let it come in direct contact with food.
o
Warn
the recipient of its use by writing "Contains Dry Ice" on the outside
of the box.
·
Wrap
box in two layers of brown paper.
·
Use
permanent markers to label outside of the box. Use recommended packing tape.
·
Label
outside clearly; make sure address is complete and correct.
·
Write
"Keep Refrigerated" on outside of the box.
·
Alert
recipient of its expected arrival.
·
Do
not send to business addresses or where there will not be adequate refrigerator
storage.
·
Do
not send packages at the end of the week. Send them at the beginning of the
week so they do not sit in the post office or mailing facility over the
weekend.
·
Whenever
possible, send foods that do not require refrigeration, e.g., hard salami, hard
cheese, country ham.
Source: USDA
FSIS
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