Recording Delivery Checks: Building a Receiving Log

A receiving log is a written record of every delivery you accept or reject at goods inwards. Capture the date, supplier, product, quantity, batch or lot code, use-by date, the temperature of cold and hot food, the condition of packaging, and who checked it. A good log proves you controlled incoming risk, underpins your food safety program, and lets you trace a product forward or back within one step if there is ever a recall. Key takeaways: A receiving log turns a routine delivery check into a defensible record you can show an inspector and use in a recall.. Record temperature for potentially hazardous food at receipt: cold food at or below 5 degrees C and hot food at or above 60 degrees C.. Capture the supplier, product, quantity, batch or lot code and use-by date so you can trace one step back and one step forward.. Note the decision - accepted, rejected or accepted with a note - and the name of the person who checked, for accountability.. Keep completed logs on file so they support your food safety program and are available if there is a complaint or recall.. Why a receiving log matters Goods inwards is one of the few points where you can stop an unsafe or unsuitable food entering your kitchen. A carton that arrived warm, a use-by date that has already passed, or damaged packaging is far cheaper to reject at the door than to discover mid-service. A receiving log makes that check deliberate and consistent rather than a glance and a signature. It records what you found, what you decided, and who decided it. Under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, food businesses must take all practicable measures to receive only safe and suitable food and to protect it from contamination. Standard 3.2.2 sets out receipt requirements, and many businesses operating under Standard 3.2.2A or a food safety program are expected to demonstrate they control incoming food. A written log is how you show that control actually happened, day after day, not just that you intended it to. The core fields to capture Every entry should answer a simple question: what arrived, from whom, in what condition, and what did we do about it. Keeping the fields consistent means anyone on the team can complete the log the same way, and anyone reviewing it can read it at a glance. Build your log around a fixed set of columns rather than a free-text note. Consistency is what makes a log searchable during a recall and credible during an audit. Date and time of the delivery.. Supplier name and, where relevant, the delivery vehicle or driver.. Product description and quantity received.. Batch, lot or production code shown on the packaging.. Use-by or best-before date.. Measured temperature for potentially hazardous food (cold and hot).. Condition of packaging, seals and labelling.. Decision: accepted, rejected, or accepted with a note.. Name or initials of the person who checked.. Recording temperatures correctly Temperature is the field most often skipped and the one that matters most for potentially hazardous food. The temperature danger zone is 5 to 60 degrees C, the range in which harmful bacteria multiply fastest. Cold potentially hazardous food should be received at or below 5 degrees C, and hot food that is delivered hot should be at or above 60 degrees C. Frozen food should be hard-frozen with no sign of thawing and refreezing. Measure with a clean, calibrated probe, taking the temperature between packs or of a designated product rather than only reading the truck's air gauge. Record the actual reading, not just a tick. A number gives you evidence and a trend; a tick tells you nothing if a problem later emerges. If a reading sits above the limit, apply your business rule - for example, reject the item, or accept only if the supplier can show it has been out of temperature for a short, documented period - and note what you did. Batch codes, dates and traceability Traceability in the Food Standards Code works on a one-step-back, one-step-forward basis: you should be able to identify who supplied a food and, for food you send on, who you supplied it to. The receiving log is the back half of that chain. If a supplier issues a recall on a particular batch, the code and date in your log let you find out in minutes whether you ever received it, rather than discarding stock on guesswork. Always copy the batch or lot code and the use-by or best-before date exactly as printed. For fresh produce or unbranded goods without a batch code, record the supplier, delivery date and invoice number, which together act as your reference. Keep the matching invoice or delivery docket with the log so the two can be cross-checked. Setting your accept and reject rules A log only helps if staff know what to do with what they record. Agree the rules in advance and write them next to the log so the decision is not left to judgement under pressure. Clear rules also make rejections consistent between staff and easier to defend if a supplier disputes them. Rejecting a delivery is a normal part of receiving, not a failure. Record the reason so you can raise it with the supplier and spot repeat problems over time. Reject cold potentially hazardous food above 5 degrees C, unless your documented procedure allows a limited exception.. Reject food with damaged, swollen, leaking or opened packaging, or broken seals.. Reject food that is past its use-by date, or has a use-by date too close for your needs.. Reject frozen food showing signs of thawing, large ice crystals or refreezing.. Reject food with signs of pests, contamination, off odours or missing allergen labelling.. Note any conditional acceptance and the reason, and report recurring issues to the supplier.. How the log supports your food safety program Receiving is a control point in most food safety programs, and the log is the monitoring record that proves the control is working. When an environmental health officer reviews your program, completed receiving logs are direct evidence that incoming food is checked against defined limits and that action is taken when limits are breached. Gaps in the log suggest gaps in the control. The log also connects to the rest of your program. Allergen information should be verified at receipt, because Plain English Allergen Labelling under Standard 1.2.3 relies on accurate labelling of the declared allergens. Storage decisions - which cold room, which shelf, what to use first - follow directly from the use-by dates and temperatures you recorded. Review your logs periodically to spot suppliers who repeatedly deliver warm or late, and use that pattern to improve your supply arrangements. Paper, spreadsheet or app The format matters less than the discipline of completing it, but each option has trade-offs. A paper log at goods inwards is simple and always works, though entries can be missed, lost or hard to search later. A spreadsheet is easy to filter by date, supplier or batch, which helps in a recall, but relies on someone transcribing entries. A digital app can prompt for each field, timestamp entries, flag out-of-range temperatures and store records centrally. Whatever you choose, keep completed logs for a reasonable period so they are available for a complaint, audit or recall, store them where they will not be damaged or lost, and make sure a named person is responsible for completing and reviewing them. A log that is filled in some days and not others is worse than none, because it gives false confidence that checks are happening. Checklist: Log ready and probe thermometer calibrated before deliveries arrive. Date, time and supplier recorded for every delivery. Product, quantity and invoice or docket number captured. Batch or lot code and use-by date copied exactly. Cold food at or below 5 degrees C, hot food at or above 60 degrees C, frozen food hard-frozen. Packaging, seals and allergen labelling inspected. Accept or reject decision and reason recorded. Name or initials of the checker on each entry. Accepted food moved into correct storage promptly. Completed logs filed and reviewed for repeat supplier issues. Common mistakes: Ticking a box instead of writing the actual temperature reading, which leaves no usable evidence or trend.. Reading only the truck's air-gauge display rather than probing the food itself.. Skipping the batch or lot code, so a targeted recall means discarding far more stock than necessary.. Leaving accepted deliveries on the dock, letting cold food drift into the danger zone before it is stored.. Filling in the log inconsistently - some days complete, some days blank - which undermines the whole record.. No named person responsible, so checks are assumed to be happening but no one actually owns them..