Ice packs for shipping perishables11/7/2023 ![]() ![]() (any foods other than meat, poultry, and egg products) FDA Outreach and Information Center 1 (888) 723-3366 weekdays 10 a.m.USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline, weekdays 10 a.m.If mail order foods arrive in a questionable condition, you may contact the following organizations for help: Use the handy chart, compiled by the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline and FDA Outreach and Information Center, to plan your purchase, send a home-prepared item, and store popular mail order foods. Whenever possible, send foods that do not require refrigeration, e.g., hard salami, hard cheese, country ham.Send them at the beginning of the week so they do not sit in the post office or mailing facility over the weekend. Do not send packages at the end of the week.Do not send to business addresses or where there will not be adequate refrigerator storage.Alert recipient of its expected arrival.Write "Keep Refrigerated" on outside of the box.Label outside clearly make sure address is complete and correct.Use permanent markers to label outside of the box.Warn the recipient of its use by writing "Contains Dry Ice" on the outside of the box.Don't let it come in direct contact with food.Don't touch the dry ice with bare hands.Pack with a cold source, i.e., frozen gel packs or dry ice.In other words, you cannot tell that a food has been mishandled or is unsafe to eat.įor perishable foods prepared at home and mailed, follow these guidelines: Pathogenic bacteria can grow rapidly in the "Danger Zone", but they may not affect the taste, smell, or appearance of a food. Make sure perishable foods are not held at temperatures between 40 and 140 ☏, the "Danger Zone", for longer than 2 hours. The same rules that cover the mail order industry also apply to foods prepared and mailed from home. 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.Īmericans also enjoy cooking foods that are family favorites and mailing these items to family and friends. Or alert the recipient that "the gift is in the mail" so someone can be there to receive it. Tell the recipient if the company has promised a delivery date.If perishable food arrives warm-above 40 ☏ as measured with a food thermometer-notify the company. Even if a product is smoked, cured, vacuum-packed, and/or fully cooked, it still is a perishable product and must be kept cold. The food should arrive frozen or partially frozen with ice crystals still visible or at least refrigerator cold-below 40 ☏ as measured with a food thermometer. When you receive a food item marked "Keep Refrigerated," open it immediately and check its temperature.Make sure perishable items and the outer package are labeled "Keep Refrigerated" to alert the recipient. The food should be delivered as quickly as possible-ideally, overnight.It should be packed in foam or heavy corrugated cardboard. Make sure the company sends perishable items, like meat or poultry, cold or frozen and packed with a cold source.The following food safety tips will help the purchaser and recipient determine if their perishable foods have been handled properly: 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. It's imperative to develop some mental checklists for how both food and packaging should look when perishable mail order foods arrive. 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. With more Americans working and being more time-crunched than ever, the ultimate time saver and convenience is home delivery of mail order foods. Convenience means many things to many people, but anything that helps save time is always high on everyone's list of conveniences. ![]()
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