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Food and Nutrition
Safe Food Handling at the Grocery Store
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Practicing safe food handling at the grocery store can help prevent foodborne illness.
Explore the grocery store to learn helpful safe food handling tips.
Did you Know?
Never use your nose, eyes or taste buds to judge the safety of food. You cannot tell if a food may cause foodborne illness by its smell, look or taste. If in doubt, throw it out!
Grocery Store
Buy cold or frozen food at the end of your shopping.
Keep your raw meat, poultry, fish and seafood away from other food in your grocery cart so you don't spread foodborne bacteria from raw food to ready-to-eat food.
Put raw food in individual plastic bags and pack them separately in your reusable grocery bags.
If you use reusable grocery bags, make sure to use a specific bag or bin just for raw meat, poultry, fish and seafood. Label the bag with the type of food it carries.
Keep your raw meat, poultry and seafood cold. Refrigerate or freeze them as soon as you get home from the grocery store.
Use pre-packaged deli meats within 4 days, preferably 2-3 days, after opening; even if this date is different than the best-before date. Best-before dates apply to unopened packages only. Deli meats sliced at the grocer should also be eaten within 4 days, preferably 2-3 days.
Older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should avoid raw or unpasteurized dairy products, including soft and semi-soft cheese, such as Brie, Camembert and blue-veined cheese. Go for Cheddar, Swiss or Parmesan!
