Food Safety: Receiving

 Protecting Food Safety from the Point of Receiving

September is National Food Safety Month, so we’re going to kick it off by taking a closer look at safe receiving practices. Our food is well traveled. From field to kitchen, with so many moving parts and points along the supply chain, food is vulnerable all the way to the table. Most foodborne illnesses are caused by one of the following three things: time and temperature abuse, poor personal hygiene, or cross-contamination. For any foodservice operator, unless you’re harvesting from your own garden, protecting against these potential hazards begins at the point of receiving.

It looks like an innocent box, but as your mother might say, you never know where it’s been. Field, truck, warehouse, pallet, or floor are all among the possibilities. Insects are well known to hitch rides nestled in boxes of produce or inside tears in cardboard. Soil, absorbed liquids, and invisible microorganisms may be on the bottom of the carton where they can cross-contaminate any surface the box is set upon. Recent studies have also revealed that dangerous virus particles may live up to 24 hours on cardboard surfaces.

Even if the carton appears clean and intact, the safest practice, one that is required by some health departments, is to transfer food from cardboard cartons to clear food storage boxes in the receiving area to ensure that dangerous stowaways don’t make it into the kitchen or worse yet, into food. This is also a convenient way to physically sort through newly received product to ensure acceptable quality and condition. The occasional “bad apple” can be removed before it damages others in the shipment. Cambro Camwear Food Storage Boxes placed on Dunnage Racks keep food safely 12" above the ground which also makes for more ergonomic unloading and loading for employees.

Service carts such as Cambro's Service Cart Pro and KD Cart or mobile Camshelving units with antimicrobial shelf plates ramp up capacity to reduce the number of trips needed to transport food boxes from receiving to the walk-in cooler. Clear food boxes have an added benefit of content visibility, which helps employees quickly and safely find what they’re looking for without opening the box or reaching inside. Solid covers prevent cross-contamination in storage, while sliding lids are ideal for items that require frequent access.

If concerns about food safety in receiving or any other part of your operation are keeping you up at night, contact us. We can help.