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Ordering Meat Online? Be Careful |
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USDA
offers safety tips for handling holiday gift foods
According to the USDA,
Americans will order over $5.8 billion in food gifts from catalogs and over the
Internet this holiday season. While most of this food will reach its destination
in safe condition, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) warns
that mishandling or mail delays could cause some orders to arrive with an
unwanted surprise: a dose of food poisoning.
In
an agency press release, director of the USDA's Food Safety Education Susan
Conley offered the following food safety tips for both purchasers and recipients
of mail or Internet ordered foods:
Before
Ordering Food Gifts
- Be sure the company is reputable. The Direct Marketing Association offers
sources of reputable catalog and Internet food retailers at their Web site: www.shopthenet.org.
- Ask the mail order company if it ships perishable meat and poultry cold or
frozen and packed with a cold source such as dry ice or freezer gel packs.
The order should be packed in a foam box or heavy corrugated cardboard.
When Mailing Perishable Food Gifts
- Make sure the food is frozen solid or refrigerator cold.
- Use an insulated cooler or a heavy corrugated box packed with a frozen
gel-pack, or purchase dry ice for keeping food cold.
- If using dry ice, don’t touch it with bare hands or let it come in
contact with the food.
- Wrap the box in two layers of brown paper.
- Mark the box "Keep Refrigerated." Affix an accurate mailing
label to prevent any delivery problems. If dry ice was used, also write on
the package "Contains Dry Ice."
- Tell the recipients when the gift was mailed or a delivery date, if known,
so they can be home to receive it. Do not have perishables delivered to an
office; sufficient refrigerator space is not likely available.
- The food should be mailed by the fastest shipping method possible --
preferably by express overnight delivery.
- Where possible, send food through the mail that is not perishable, such as
hard salami, country ham, hard cheese and snack foods.
When You Receive Perishable Food Gifts
- Immediately open packages labeled "Keep Refrigerated."
- Make sure the food is still frozen or cold-to-the-touch with visible ice
crystals. If so, refrigerate or freeze the food right away.
- If the food is not refrigerator cold, don’t eat it. Call the company and
most likely they will replace the food items for you. But remember, it’s
the shipper’s responsibility to deliver perishable foods on time, but
it’s the consumer’s responsibility to handle it safely as soon as it
arrives.
For additional food safety information about meat, poultry, or eggs, call the
toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1 (800) 535-4555; Washington, DC
area, (202) 720-3333; TTY: 1 (800) 256-7072. It is staffed by home economists,
registered dietitians, and food technologists weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Eastern time, year round. An extensive selection of food safety recordings can
be heard 24 hours a day using a touch-tone phone.
