Summary
Highlights
This section highlights the receiving station as the crucial point to identify and reject unsafe foods. Key checks include ensuring the delivery truck's storage area is clean, rejecting expired or soon-to-expire products, looking for signs of spoilage or physical contamination, checking for damaged containers, and verifying food temperatures. Accepting unsafe food is costly both in terms of potential illness and financial loss.
To maintain food safety, it's important to recognize signs like large ice crystals, which indicate refrozen food. The delivery station should be clean, uncluttered, and well-lit. Delivered foods must be moved to proper storage immediately to avoid the temperature danger zone (41°F to 135°F). It's also crucial to use food from health department-approved sources, identified by certifications like USDA on meats and pasteurization on milk.
Ready-to-eat foods, defined as edible without further washing or cooking (e.g., washed fruits, deli meats, cooked food), require the same inspection as fresh foods. General storage tips include maintaining proper temperatures, returning items promptly, storing food in clean, closed containers, keeping food off the floor and away from walls, and avoiding overloading shelves. The 'first in, first out' (FIFO) method should be used. Raw foods should be stored below ready-to-eat foods, and strong-odored foods like onions kept away from dairy and eggs. Refrigerators must be kept at 41°F or colder.
This section details specific inspection criteria for various meats. Beef should be bright red, 41°F or lower, and firm; reject if brown, green, sticky, slimy, or has a bad odor. Pork should be pink with white fat, 41°F or lower, and firm; reject if brown, green, sticky, slimy, or has objectionable odor. Lamb should be light red, 41°F or lower, and firm; reject if brown, green, sticky, slimy, or has a bad odor. Poultry should be 41°F or lower, fresh, evenly colored, and firm; reject if purple, green, soft, sticky, or has an objectionable odor.
Produce should be free of mold, spoilage, or insects, and handled carefully to prevent bruising. Dairy products (milk, cheese, butter) must be 41°F or lower, within expiration, and have clean, undamaged packaging. Milk should be pasteurized, cheese rinds intact with acceptable flavor, and butter free of odor or dirt. Shell eggs must be refrigerated, clean, unbroken, and graded USDA AA or A. Liquid and frozen eggs must meet temperature and expiration standards with intact packaging, while dry eggs need to be within expiration with intact packaging.
Fish should be 41°F or lower, packed in self-draining ice, have a fresh (not fishy) odor, clear bright eyes, and firm, springy flesh; reject if gills are dry/gray, eyes cloudy/red-bordered, flesh soft, or has an ammonia-like odor. Crustaceans should be 41°F or lower (live) or 0°F (frozen), alive with hard shells, and a fresh odor; reject if shells are soft or have strong objectionable odor. Shellfish should be 41°F or lower (live) or 0°F (frozen), with tightly closed shells, alive, have a fresh odor, and be shipped with a shell stock tag; reject if shells are open and won't close, or have a strong objectionable odor.
Frozen foods should be 0°F or below (ice cream 6-10°F); reject if cartons are distorted, have large ice crystals, or contain fluid/frozen liquid. Modified atmosphere packaged foods and vacuum-sealed foods must have the correct temperature and intact, undamaged packaging; reject if packaging is flawed or damaged, or beyond the expiration date. Canned foods should have labels, no rust, no swelled tops/bottoms, and no leaks or dents (especially on seams); reject if any of these issues are present. Dry goods should have intact, undamaged packaging, and be free of insects; reject if torn, damp, damaged, or infested.