Before the delivery arrives
- Agree delivery windows with suppliers, ideally outside peak service.
- Make space in refrigerators and freezers before the delivery, not after.
- Keep a probe thermometer, sanitising wipes and the receiving log at the back door.
- Know who is authorised to accept or reject a delivery on each shift.
What to check
| Check | Accept | Reject or quarantine |
|---|---|---|
| Chilled high-risk food temperature | 5 °C or below | Above your limit |
| Frozen food temperature | −18 °C or below, frozen hard | Soft, partly thawed or above your limit |
| Signs of thawing and refreezing | Free-flowing, no large ice crystals | Clumped contents, ice inside packs, misshapen or stained packaging |
| Packaging | Intact, clean, sealed | Torn, leaking, swollen, dirty or pest-damaged |
| Dates | Within date with enough life for your use | Past date or too short to use in time |
| Vehicle and handling | Clean, refrigerated or properly insulated | Dirty vehicle, food mixed with non-food items, raw and ready-to-eat touching |
How to take receiving temperatures
Check a few items from different parts of the delivery, including the top and the outside of the stack, where warming happens first. For packed chilled food, place a clean probe between two packs and press them together; you don't need to open or pierce them. For loose product such as fish on ice, probe the flesh of a sample. For frozen goods, use a frozen-food probe or sandwich the probe between packs.
An infrared thermometer is a quick way to screen many crates, but it reads only the surface; confirm anything borderline with a probe.
Paperwork and records
Record the supplier, items, temperatures, the time and whether you accepted or rejected the delivery, with initials. FSSAI's published Schedule 4 expects records of raw materials and their source of procurement to be kept in a register for inspection. A rejection should be recorded with the reason and communicated to the supplier, so the pattern can be addressed.
Putting stock away
- Frozen first, then chilled, then everything else.
- Set a maximum time that chilled and frozen goods may wait outside refrigeration after arrival, and stick to it.
- Rotate as you go: new stock behind old, using FIFO and FEFO.
- Remove outer cartons and dirty crates before items go into refrigerators with ready-to-eat food, keeping labels and dates.
- Store raw meat, poultry and fish in their proper place, below ready-to-eat food.
Handling rejections and doubtful stock
If the driver is still there, reject on the spot and record it. If a problem is found after the driver has left, quarantine the stock: put it in a clearly marked area or container, separate from usable stock, in cold storage if appropriate, until the supplier collects it or it is disposed of. FSSAI's schedule asks for rejected and returned materials to be stored separately and clearly marked, so they cannot be used by mistake.
Frequently asked questions
- What temperature should a chilled delivery be?
- FSSAI's published Schedule 4 gives 5 °C or below for receiving potentially high-risk chilled food, and −18 °C or below for frozen food. Your food-safety plan may set tighter limits. Check the current regulations for your business type.
- Should I open packs to check the temperature?
- Usually not. Probing between two packs gives a good reading without breaking the seal. Open a pack only if your procedure requires it or you suspect a problem, and then use or discard it as your plan says.
- What if a delivery arrives while the kitchen is in the middle of service?
- Ask suppliers to avoid peak hours, but have a plan for when it happens. One named person stops what they are doing long enough to check temperatures and put chilled and frozen items away immediately; dry goods can wait. A delivery left on the floor until service ends is a common cause of cold-chain failure.
- Is ice on a fish delivery enough to show it was kept cold?
- Melting ice is a good sign but not proof. Probe the flesh of a few fish from different parts of the box, check that the ice is clean and that there is enough of it, and look for signs of poor handling such as soft texture or off odours. Record the readings as with any chilled delivery.
