How to Check Food Deliveries on Arrival

When a delivery arrives, check it before you sign for it. Measure the temperature of potentially hazardous food (chilled food should generally be 5°C or colder, frozen food frozen hard, hot food 60°C or hotter), inspect packaging for damage or contamination, confirm use-by dates haven't passed, and reject anything that fails. Then record what you checked. Doing this at the door is the simplest way to keep unsafe stock out of your kitchen. Key takeaways: Check potentially hazardous food at the door: chilled generally 5°C or colder, frozen frozen hard, and hot 60°C or hotter.. Use a clean, calibrated probe thermometer and measure between packages or via product temperature, not just the truck's air reading.. Reject on the spot if food is out of temperature, packaging is damaged or wet, use-by dates have passed, or there are signs of pests or contamination.. Keep a simple receiving record of date, supplier, product, temperature and action taken — it substantiates your food safety controls.. Requirements can vary by state or territory, so confirm specifics with your local council and food regulator.. Why the delivery dock is your first control point The moment a delivery arrives is one of your best chances to stop unsafe food entering the kitchen. Once stock is unpacked, mixed into cool-room shelves and its packaging binned, you lose the ability to prove it arrived safely — or to send it back. Under Standard 3.2.2 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, food businesses generally must take all practical measures to ensure food received is safe and suitable, and must not accept potentially hazardous food that is not under temperature control unless safe time limits can be demonstrated. The person receiving stock needs to be able to make a quick, confident accept-or-reject decision. That means having a working thermometer within reach, knowing the temperature limits, and understanding they are allowed to reject a delivery. Build the check into the workflow so it happens every time, not just when someone remembers. Receiving is the last easy point to reject unsafe stock before it enters storage.. Standard 3.2.2 generally requires practical measures to ensure received food is safe and suitable.. Whoever signs for deliveries should be trained and empowered to reject non-compliant food.. Check the temperature of potentially hazardous food Potentially hazardous food (meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, cooked rice and pasta, cut fruit and vegetables, and similar) must be kept under temperature control. On arrival, FSANZ guidance is generally that chilled food should be at 5°C or colder, frozen food should be frozen hard with no signs of thawing, and hot food should be at 60°C or hotter. Food may sometimes arrive between 5°C and 60°C if the supplier can demonstrate a safe time-and-temperature arrangement (for example, the 2-hour/4-hour rule) has not been exceeded. If they cannot demonstrate that, treat it as non-compliant. Measure properly. Use a clean, sanitised probe thermometer and take the temperature of the food, not just the air. For packaged chilled goods, slide the probe between two packages to get a representative reading without piercing product you intend to keep. For an accurate check, an infrared thermometer reads surfaces quickly but should be backed up by a probe when a reading is borderline. Sanitise the probe before and after use so you don't cross-contaminate. Chilled: generally 5°C or colder. Frozen: frozen hard, no thawing. Hot: generally 60°C or hotter.. Between-temperature food is only acceptable if the supplier can demonstrate safe time limits.. Probe between packages or measure product temperature — don't rely on the truck's display.. Sanitise the thermometer before and after each use, and calibrate it regularly.. Inspect packaging and the load Temperature is not the only test. Inspect the packaging and the delivery vehicle before you accept anything. Food should be properly covered or packaged in food-safe materials and protected from contamination during transport. Damaged, wet, torn or swollen packaging is a red flag. Dented cans (especially on the seam), bulging lids, leaking vacuum packs and water-stained cardboard can all indicate a product that is no longer safe. Check that raw and ready-to-eat foods have been kept separate in the load, and that chemicals or strong-smelling goods aren't stacked with food. Glance into the vehicle: it should be clean, and cold and frozen items should not be sharing an uncontrolled space with hot food. Packaging should be intact, food-safe, clean and dry.. Reject dented (seam) or bulging cans, swollen or leaking vacuum packs, and water-damaged cartons.. Confirm raw and ready-to-eat foods were transported separately.. Check the vehicle is clean and that temperature-controlled items were properly separated.. Confirm use-by dates, labelling and product integrity Check date marking before the stock goes into storage. Food past its use-by date must not be sold or used and should be rejected — use-by dates are a safety limit. Best-before dates relate to quality rather than safety, but short-dated stock may not last your intended shelf life, so it's reasonable to reject or query it depending on your agreement with the supplier. Under Standard 1.2.3, allergen declarations must be clear. Since the Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) requirements, declared allergens must generally be stated in bold in the ingredient list and in a separate summary statement. Check that labelling is present, legible and in English, and that allergen information is intact — this matters most for pre-packaged and repackaged goods you'll rely on when answering customer allergen questions. Also confirm the product delivered matches what you ordered, including quantity and grade. Reject any food past its use-by date; query short-dated or missing best-before marks.. Check labels are present, legible and in English, with allergen declarations intact (Standard 1.2.3