Purchasing, Receiving, and Storage of Food
Approved sources
Buy only from suppliers who are licensed and inspected; meat and poultry carry an USDA inspection legend, and molluscan shellfish arrive with shellstock tags showing harvest date, location, and dealer number. Keep those tags 90 days from the date the last shellfish was sold or served. Never accept home-canned, home-prepared, or recreationally caught fish without documentation.
Receiving checks
Inspect the delivery vehicle, the food's temperature, packaging integrity, and dates. Cold TCS foods must be at 41°F or below; shell eggs and fluid milk may be received at 45°F or below; hot foods at 135°F or above; frozen food must be solid with no thaw-and-refreeze evidence. Reject: torn or swollen cans, damaged vacuum seals, ice crystals or fluid stains on frozen packaging, off-odors, pest evidence, expired code dates, or a truck with no temperature control. When in doubt, reject and document.
Storage
Label with the product name and the date, and practice FIFO. Date-mark ready-to-eat TCS food held more than 24 hours: seven days total at 41°F, counting the day of preparation as day one. Store raw animal foods below and away from ready-to-eat food, ordered top to bottom by cooking temperature - cooked/RTE, whole fish, whole cuts of beef and pork, ground meat, then poultry. Keep dry goods at 50–70°F, off the floor and six inches from walls, and store chemicals below and away from food.
Traps
The exam loves the 45°F egg and milk exception against the 41°F default, and the ordering of raw storage shelves.
Rule of thumb
Receiving is your last chance to refuse a problem - reject first, ask questions later.