Cooking Tips: Ordering perishable food via mail order

The following USDA food safety tips will help the purchaser and recipient determine if their perishable foods have been handled properly:

Make sure the company sends perishable items, like meat or poultry, cold or frozen and packed with a cold source. It should be packed in foam or heavy corrugated cardboard.

The food should be delivered as quickly as possible -- ideally, overnight. Make sure perishable items and the outer package are labeled "Keep Refrigerated" to alert the recipient.

When you receive a food item marked "Keep Refrigerated," open it immediately and check its temperature. The food should arrive frozen or partially frozen with ice crystals still visible. Even if a product is smoked, cured, and/or fully cooked, it still is a perishable product and must be kept cold. If perishable food arrives warm, notify the company. Do not consume the food. Do not even taste suspect food.

Submitted by: ChefMom

Rate this tip!