Delivery day at a small takeaway
It is Friday delivery day at a small takeaway: 20kg of fresh raw chicken, 15kg of frozen chips, 10kg of raw beef mince, a bag of salad mix, and 4L of aioli. The chiller is at 5°C and about 80% full; the freezer reads -15°C. The driver's van thermometer shows 9°C, the chicken feels cool but not cold, and the driver says it has been out of the chiller 'maybe 20 minutes'. There is no probe in the van and the paperwork is missing. One chicken box has leaked onto the bag of salad. There is space on the top shelf, so a staff member starts stacking the chicken there to save time. The lunch rush starts in 45 minutes and the owner is out. The delivery driver is pressing for a signature so he can leave.
1. What do you check before signing for this delivery, and what do you reject?
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Check with your own probe, and reject anything you cannot verify.
- Probe the chicken and mince with a clean, sanitised probe. Chilled food should be 4°C or below. The chicken at 9°C is a reject unless the supplier can show in writing that it has been above 4°C only briefly - 'maybe 20 minutes' from the driver is not a record, and there is no paperwork.
- Frozen chips should be -18°C or colder. -15°C is not holding temperature, so reject, or accept only with a documented explanation; rejecting is the safer call.
- Check packaging: the leaking chicken box has contaminated the salad bag. Reject the salad and the leaking box - raw poultry juice cannot be cleaned off a bag of salad.
- Check date codes, van cleanliness, and whether the paperwork matches the load.
- The chiller at 5°C and 80% full is already too warm and has no room for 20kg of chicken; that is a second reason to reject the chilled items.
Sign only for what you accept, write the rejections on the delivery note, photograph them, and tell the supplier immediately. Do not let the driver's schedule rush you.
2. For the items you accept, where does each one go, and what do you do about the leaked salad and the warm chiller?
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Storage and clean-up
- Raw chicken: bottom shelf, in a leak-proof container, never above ready-to-eat food, and separated from the mince.
- Mince: below ready-to-eat food and above the floor.
- Salad and aioli: top shelf, covered, away from raw juices. The salad bag the chicken leaked on must be discarded - do not rinse it.
- Chips: freezer, once it holds -18°C or colder; do not stack above the load line.
- Before loading, clean and sanitise the shelves and the area where the leak happened, and wash hands after handling the raw chicken packaging.
- The chiller at 5°C needs adjusting or servicing; do not fill it until air cannot circulate. If it cannot hold 4°C or below, do not accept the chilled load.
- Use colour-coded boards and separate utensils, and keep raw and ready-to-eat preparation apart.
- Freezer at -15°C: check the thermostat and door seals, and do not put a warm load into it.
3. What records do you keep and who do you tell?
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Records and communication
- Record: time, supplier, vehicle, product, batch and use-by, probe readings for each item, accepted or rejected, the reason, who checked, and the corrective action taken.
- Notify the owner or chef and the supplier in writing the same day; request credit or replacement.
- Review the supplier: repeated temperature or paperwork failures should trigger a change of supplier or an agreed delivery standard.
- Check the probe with an ice-point check (0°C) and clean and sanitise it between products.
- Tell the kitchen what is unavailable and adjust the menu.
- Brief staff that 'it will be cooked' is not a reason to accept warm chicken; only verified time and temperature records are.
- Keep the rejection note with the delivery docket so there is a record if anyone becomes ill.