A Broken-Down Truck, a Dead Compressor, and 12 Cubic Feet
Tuesday, 6:40 a.m. The refrigerated truck delivering to your 120-seat restaurant broke down en route; the box has been around 60°F for at least 40 minutes and it is 84°F outside. On the dock: 6 cases of ground beef with surface temperature 46°F; 4 cases of bone-in chicken thighs at 44°F; 8 gallons of milk at 47°F; 3 cases of frozen shrimp that are partially thawed with soft spots but still hold ice crystals; and 4 vacuum-packed sides of fresh salmon printed with a 21-day shelf life. Your walk-in lost its compressor yesterday, is running at 41°F, and has roughly 12 cubic feet free. The replacement compressor arrives Thursday. The driver says the rest of his route is waiting.
1. Go item by item: accept or reject, and state the reasoning you would defend to the supplier and to an inspector.
Read the worked answer
Ground beef at 46°F - reject. It is a TCS food over 41°F, and ground beef is the highest-risk item on the dock because it is comminuted and will not be cooked by every customer's preference.
Chicken thighs at 44°F - reject. Same rule, no discretion. Surface temperature on a case is a favourable reading; core is likely warmer.
Milk at 47°F - reject. Milk has a limited tolerance on receiving (commonly 45°F, then cooled to 41°F within 4 hours), and 47°F is past even that. Do not stretch the tolerance to cover a supplier's breakdown.
Frozen shrimp, partially thawed, ice crystals present - reject, or accept for immediate use only. Frozen food should arrive frozen. With ice crystals remaining the product is likely still below 41°F, but you cannot verify that across three cases on a warm dock, you have nowhere cold to put it, and refreezing degrades it. Given the cooler situation, reject is the defensible call.
Vacuum-packed salmon - accept selectively. The risk is anaerobic: Clostridium botulinum needs an oxygen-free environment and mild temperatures, so uninterrupted cold is the control. Take only what will fit at 41°F or below and be used or frozen within a day; reject the rest.
2. You have 12 cubic feet and a walk-in holding at 41°F. How do you allocate it, and what makes the salmon different from the beef you refused?
Read the worked answer
Allocation principle: cold space goes to the highest risk per cubic foot, not the highest value per cubic foot.
Priority order:
- Anything already accepted that is ready-to-eat and supports anaerobic growth - the salmon.
- Ice and ice packs if you kept any frozen product; a partially thawed case with no cold space becomes a wasted case.
- In-house TCS items already in service that are closer to their use-by date.
The salmon is different from the beef on two axes. First, it was never out of temperature in the way the beef was - it arrived cold, so the control is keeping it cold, which is achievable. Second, its hazard is different: vacuum packaging removes the oxygen that spoils fish and warns you, while leaving the conditions C. botulinum favours. That means the printed 21-day shelf life assumes an unbroken cold chain at 41°F or below, which is exactly what your failed compressor threatens. If the walk-in cannot hold 41°F overnight, the salmon is the first thing to go, not the last.
Practical move: check the salmon labels for refrigeration instructions and a use-by date; if either is missing, reject. Then get the compressor repair escalated, because your real constraint is time, not space.
3. The driver is pushing you to sign. What do you do at the dock, and what paperwork do you need before he leaves?
Read the worked answer
Do not sign for the whole delivery. Signing converts the supplier's temperature failure into your problem.
At the dock:
- Take your own readings with your own calibrated probe, on multiple packages, and write them on the invoice next to the item.
- Mark each line rejected with the reason ('received at 46°F, limit 41°F'), not a vague note.
- Have the driver sign the annotated invoice and take a copy or photograph. If he refuses, photograph the invoice and the product in the truck and record the refusal.
- Keep the product on the dock or in the truck - do not let rejected food into your cooler, where it becomes ambiguous.
Before he leaves: a rejection record per item, a credit or replacement request in writing, and the supplier's temperature log for the trip requested in writing. Then call the supplier's manager rather than arguing with the driver, who has no authority to fix either the temperature or the credit.
Finally, this is a business-continuity failure, not just a food safety one: with no compressor until Thursday and no delivery, you need a second supplier or a menu change today - and a documented receiving procedure so the next driver's impatience is not a decision point.