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:
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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. Even if a product is smoked,
cured, and/or fully cooked, it still is a perishable product and
must be kept cold. If perishable food arrives warm, 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 do not generally 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:
- Ship in a sturdy box.
- Pack with a cold source, i.e., frozen gel packs or dry ice.
- When using dry ice:
- Don’t touch the dry ice with bare hands.
- Don’t let it come in direct contact with food.
- 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.
