Food delivery checks: a goods-in routine that stands up to an EHO

The delivery at the back door is the first food safety check of the day, and it's usually done by whoever happens to be nearest, in a hurry, with the driver waiting. That's why it goes wrong. A box of chicken that's been sitting warm in a van becomes your problem the moment someone signs for it.

A good goods-in routine takes two minutes per delivery. Here's what to check, how to check it, when to send stuff back and what to write down.

The short answer

At every delivery, before signing:

1. Temperature: chilled food cold, frozen food frozen.
2. Dates: use-by dates in date, with enough life left for your menu.
3. Condition: packaging clean, sealed and undamaged.
4. Pests: no gnawed packaging, droppings or insects.
5. Order: what's on the invoice is what arrived, including any substitutions.

Then put chilled and frozen food away straight away, and file the invoice.

The legal basics

There's no single "delivery law", but several rules meet at the back door:

• Temperature control. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below. Scotland recommends the same. Accepting warm food doesn't change your responsibility for it.
• Use-by dates. It's against the law to serve food after its use-by date, so out-of-date stock shouldn't come through the door.
• Traceability. You must keep a record of what food you bought, who from, the quantity and the date, so you or an enforcement officer can trace it back. The FSA says keeping invoices and receipts is usually the easiest way.
• Reasonable precautions. The FSA's Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack reminds businesses they're required by food law to take reasonable precautions to protect customers. Checking deliveries is one of the most basic.

What to check on every delivery

1. Temperature

Chilled food. Decide your acceptance limit and write it into your food safety system. Most kitchens refuse anything above 8°C, since that's the legal limit for chilled food in most of the UK. Many set a tighter house limit, such as 5°C, to match their fridge settings.

Frozen food. It should arrive frozen, with no sign it has thawed. The FSA's SFBB pack says frozen food should be kept at -18°C or below, and GOV.UK says to put frozen food in the freezer as soon as it's delivered.

How to measure:

The FSA's advice is to use infrared for a quick surface check and, if a reading seems high, confirm it with a clean, disinfected probe. Probing between two packs gives a good reading without piercing the product. See how to calibrate a food probe to make sure the reading is right.

2. Dates

Check that every item is within its use-by date. Also check there's enough life left for how quickly you'll use it: a pack of fish delivered on its use-by date is technically in date, but no use to a kitchen planning to serve it tomorrow. For the difference between use-by and best before, see use by, best before and day dot labels.

3. Condition of the packaging

The SFBB stock control method lists what to look for:

• punctured vacuum packs
• swollen or "blown" packs, which can be a sign bacteria have grown
• badly dented cans
• loose tops on bottles and jars, or broken seals
• food that has gone off

4. Pests

The FSA's pest control guidance says not to accept a delivery showing signs of pests, such as gnawed packaging or insects like beetles. Pests can come into your premises in a delivery, so this matters beyond the box in front of you. Look closely at dry goods, sacks and cardboard.

5. The order itself

Check quantities against the invoice and look for substitutions. If the supplier has swapped a product, check its allergen information before you use it. A different brand of mayonnaise, stock or bread can bring in an allergen your menu says isn't there.

When to reject a delivery

The FSA's rule is straightforward: if you don't think the food has been handled safely (for example, it hasn't been kept cold enough), reject the delivery, contact your supplier immediately and write the details down.

Reject when you find:

• chilled food above your acceptance limit
• frozen food that has thawed
• food past its use-by date
• damaged, leaking, swollen or unsealed packaging
• signs of pests
• anything you can't identify or trace

Don't take it "just this once" and use it quickly. If it's not safe on arrival, it's not safe after an hour in your fridge.

If the same supplier keeps getting it wrong

The SFBB pack suggests escalating in this order:

1. Phone the supplier.
2. Write a formal letter of complaint.
3. Change supplier.
4. Contact your local authority.

And if a supplier you've never heard of gets in touch, check with your council that they're a registered, reputable business. They could be fraudulent.

Goods-in log template

Copy this into a notebook or spreadsheet, or set it up as a checklist. One line per delivery.

Keep invoices with it, or note the invoice number in the "Supplier" column.

Put it away, fast

The check is pointless if the crate then sits on the floor for half an hour. Make "away within minutes" part of the routine:

• frozen straight into the freezer
• chilled straight into the fridge, raw below ready-to-eat
• if you decant food out of its original packaging, label the container with the food's name, ingredients and its use-by or best before date, as the FSA's stock control method advises
• rotate stock: first in, first out

If you collect from a cash and carry, the same applies: use a clean vehicle and get chilled and frozen food back into the fridge or freezer as soon as possible.

Beer and drinks deliveries

Drinks have their own checks. For cask beer, Cask Marque's cellar card advises checking the best before date has at least 14 days of life before signing for the delivery, then storing it straight away in a cooled area at 11°C to 13°C. See our cellar management checklist.

Making it stick with your team

The FSA suggests three things that make delivery checks work:

• Train staff in what to look for, especially whoever is usually in when deliveries arrive.
• Agree delivery requirements with suppliers in writing, including your temperature limits and delivery windows.
• Do spot checks yourself, so you know the routine happens when you're not there.

The weak point is usually the early delivery, when the kitchen porter is the only one in. If deliveries land before the chef starts, the porter needs the probe, the limits and the authority to say no.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete turns goods-in into a short checklist on the phone or tablet at the back door:

• A delivery checklist with each check as a tick, named and timestamped, and you can require a photo (of the probe reading or the label) before it can be ticked off.
• Temperature logs for every fridge and freezer the delivery goes into, each with its own safe range, with out-of-range readings flagged on the dashboard.
• Incidents for rejected deliveries: log it in seconds with a photo, severity and notes on what the supplier said, then mark it resolved.
• A weekly report and full audit log with CSV export when you need to show your records.

It helps you keep the records an EHO asks to see. Try it free for 60 days, no card needed.