Receiving checks: what to measure when food arrives
By Vimal Bhaya, Founder and Lead Systems Architect · Last reviewed 25 October 2026
This is a continuation of Temperature log basics, a 7-part tutorial. You are on part 6 of 7.
Check every delivery before you sign for it. Under the FDA Food Code, cold food has to arrive at 41°F (5°C) or colder, hot food at 135°F (57°C) or hotter, raw shell eggs in a truck at 45°F (7°C) or colder, and frozen food solid frozen, at 0°F (-18°C) or colder where you can measure it. Reject anything warmer, anything showing signs of thawing, and damaged packages.
Then put the cold food away first, and write down what came in, its temperature and who checked it.
Receiving is the first temperature check of the day
Once you sign for a delivery, its problems are yours. The FDA Food Code makes the person in charge make sure staff are "visibly observing foods as they are received", to confirm they come from approved sources.
TCS food is short for time/temperature control for safety food: food that has to be kept cold or hot to stop germs growing in it, such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, cooked rice and cut produce. Older codes call it potentially hazardous food. Bread, crackers and whole, uncut fruit are not TCS food. More on it in cold holding, hot holding and the danger zone.
The Food Code says TCS food has to arrive "free of evidence of previous temperature abuse". In plain words: no sign that it was warm somewhere on the way to you.
The Food Code sets a receiving temperature for five kinds of food
| Food | Must arrive | Paragraph |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerated TCS food: meat, poultry, fish, dairy, cut produce | 41°F (5°C) or colder | (A) |
| Milk and molluscan shellfish | At the temperature their own laws allow | (B) |
| Raw shell eggs | In a truck that keeps the air at 45°F (7°C) or colder | (C) |
| Hot TCS food | 135°F (57°C) or hotter | (D) |
| Frozen food shipped frozen | Solid frozen, with no thawing or softening. If you can measure it, 0°F (-18°C) or colder | (E) |
| All TCS food | No sign of earlier temperature abuse | (F) |
The Food Code itself only says frozen food has to arrive frozen. The 0°F (-18°C) figure is the freezer temperature FDA advises, and a useful bar for a delivery you can measure.
School kitchen guidance from the Institute of Child Nutrition gives milk and eggs 45°F (7°C) or below on arrival, and says milk goes into a cooler at 41°F (5°C) or lower straight after receiving.
A receiving check takes five steps
- Make room in the cooler first. Cold food that waits on the dock for a free shelf is warming up.
- Look at the packages. The Food Code asks for packages "in good condition". Look for tears, dents, leaks and broken seals.
- Take the temperature of the food. Use a clean, sanitized probe thermometer, checked in ice water. Should read: 41°F (5°C) or colder for cold food, 135°F (57°C) or hotter for hot food.
- Look closely at frozen food. It should be "frozen solid". The Institute of Child Nutrition says "large ice crystals or liquid on the bottom of the carton are signs of thawing."
- Check the invoice and date the products. Compare the invoice with what arrived, check use-by dates on perishables, and date each product as it comes in.
Reject food that is warm, thawed or damaged
- Cold food above 41°F (5°C).
- Frozen food that shows signs of thawing, such as large ice crystals or liquid in the carton.
- Damaged packages, where the food inside may be exposed.
- Food you cannot trace to an approved source.
Refuse it while the driver is still there, and write the reason on the invoice. Your health department's rules say what happens next.
Cold food goes away first, then frozen, then dry
The Institute of Child Nutrition puts the order plainly: refrigerated foods first, then frozen foods, then dry storage. Every minute on the dock counts toward the time limits in the danger zone.
A receiving log needs six things
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date and time | When the delivery was checked, not when it was due |
| Supplier | Who delivered it |
| Product | What you checked |
| Temperature | The reading, with °F or °C |
| Accepted or rejected | And the reason, if rejected |
| Initials | Of the person who checked it |
These follow the same idea as an equipment log: the actual reading, when it was taken and who took it. See how to do temperature logs correctly.
Deliveries made while you are closed still need checking
The Food Code covers this too. The person in charge has to make sure staff are "verifying that foods delivered to the food establishment during nonoperating hours" come from approved sources and went into the right storage at the right temperature.
An early drop into a walk-in can go wrong without anyone there: a door that does not close behind the driver, or warm cases stacked against the coil. The first person in the next morning finds it.
Want to know the walk-in stayed cold after an early-morning drop?
TemperatureWise records the box the delivery goes into, every 15 minutes, closed hours included. If a driver leaves the walk-in door ajar and the box warms, TemperatureWise emails, then texts and calls up to 3 people per sensor until someone answers.
It does not measure the food as it comes off the truck. That check is still a person with a probe thermometer.