Food Protection: Purchasing, Receiving, and Storage
Buying and receiving
Purchase only from approved suppliers who deliver during operating hours and can provide invoices, shellstock tags, and USDA inspection marks (grading is a quality mark, not a safety mark). Reject anything suspicious at the door.
Receiving temperatures: cold TCS food at 41°F or below, frozen food solid, hot food at 135°F or above. Shell eggs, milk, and shellfish may be received at 45°F but must be cooled to 41°F. Reject torn packages, ice crystals that suggest thawing and refreezing, expired codes, missing shellstock tags, or signs of pests.
Shellstock tags must be kept 90 days from the date the container is emptied, and fish must come from approved sources.
Storing
Label everything, follow FIFO (first in, first out), and store 6 inches off the floor, away from walls, in a clean, dry area kept at 50–70°F. Refrigerators at 41°F or below, freezers at 0°F.
Stack raw food top to bottom: ready-to-eat food on top; then seafood; whole cuts of beef and pork; ground meat; poultry on the bottom. Store chemicals below and away from food.
Date marking: ready-to-eat TCS food held more than 24 hours is marked with a 7-day discard date, counting the day of preparation as day 1, when kept at 41°F or below.
Traps
- Confusing the 45°F receiving allowance for eggs with the 41°F storage requirement.
- Thinking FIFO satisfies date marking; they are separate requirements.
- Storing raw poultry above ready-to-eat food - the classic cross-contamination diagram question.
Rule of thumb
If it is not cold enough, solid, or labeled, reject it at the door.