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Health and Human Services

Bucks County Health Department

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Tips on Mailing Perishable Foods Safely During the Holidays

The BucksCounty Health Department is offering consumers tips to ensure the safety of perishable foods prepared at home and mailed to family and friends for the holidays.

The following precautions are recommended whenever perishable foods, which contain meat, poultry, fish, seafood or dairy products, are sent or received in the mail:

• Send perishable food cold or frozen in a leak-proof container, packed in foam or heavy corrugated cardboard with frozen gel packs or dry ice.  Don't touch dry ice with bare hands or let it come in contact with food.  Write "Contains Dry Ice" on the package to warn the recipient.
• Have perishable food delivered as quickly as possible, ideally overnight.  Label the package "Keep Refrigerated" and alert the recipient of its expected arrival.  Do not send the food if no one can be there when it arrives and it would have to sit unrefrigerated for hours.  
• Do not mail perishable food at the end of the week.  Mail it at the beginning of the week so it will not sit in a post office over the weekend.
• Do not send perishable food to a business address unless you know it will arrive on a work day and there is adequate refrigerator storage space.
• When receiving perishable food, open the package immediately and check the temperature with a food thermometer.  When frozen, partially frozen with ice crystals or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the food is safe and should be placed in a refrigerator right away.
• Perishable food that arrives warm, even if it is smoked, cured or fully cooked and doesn't look, smell or taste bad, is unsafe because when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours disease-causing bacteria can multiply.
• Whenever possible, send foods that do not require refrigeration, such as hard salami, hard cheeses, country ham and non-perishable baked goods.

For more information, contact the health department at 215-345-3318.