Safe food Shopping & Storage: A Guide for Consumers and Food Vendors
Whether you’re a shopper selecting groceries for your family or a vendor stocking and handling food for customers, food safety starts well before anything hits the plate. From that first point of contact, both consumers and food professionals have a role to play in reducing the risk of foodborne illness and keeping food fresh and safe.
Safe Food Shopping Tips:
Planning ahead is one of the most effective ways to support food safety. For consumers, creating a shopping list helps reduce time spent in the store and keeps the focus on essentials. For vendors, planning ahead means organizing storage space and ensuring proper equipment is ready to receive and hold cold or frozen items. In both cases, having insulated bags or coolers ready helps maintain safe temperatures while in transit.
Making smart choices while shopping or stocking is just as important. Always inspect packaging for cleanliness and damage. Whether you're a consumer selecting a product or a vendor checking inventory, pay attention to date labels.
Labels and definitions: Date labels on food packaging can be confusing, but they’re mostly about quality, not safety. Knowing what these labels mean can help you avoid throwing away good food — and help stores manage their inventory better. Here's a quick guide:
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Best if Used By/Before
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This tells you when the food will taste its best. It’s not about safety.
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Sell-By
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This date is for stores, not shoppers. It helps with stocking and inventory. It’s not a safety date.
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Use-By
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This shows the last day the product is at its best quality. It’s only a safety date when used on infant formula.
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Freeze-By
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This suggests the best time to freeze the food for top quality. It’s not about safety or when to buy the product.
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Preventing cross-contamination To keep food safe, always keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate from ready-to-eat foods. Use separate containers and cutting boards and clean all surfaces and utensils after handling raw items. Don’t forget to wash your hands thoroughly before and after. These simple steps help stop harmful bacteria from spreading in your kitchen.
Shopping order also plays a key role in food safety. It's best to start with shelf-stable items and save meat, dairy, and frozen products for last to limit how long they’re kept at room temperature. For vendors receiving stock, this means prioritizing refrigerated and frozen items for immediate transfer to cold storage.
Transporting food safely is the final step in this stage of the food chain. Perishable foods must be kept cold during transport. Vendors should use properly cooled vehicles or equipment and quickly move items into cold storage once they arrive to keep food safe.
