Eating cookie dough or batters with raw eggs carries the same risk as eggnog made with raw eggs. It also may contain an acidifying agent that kills bacteria. Because mail-order food gifts can include meat, poultry, fish and other perishables like cheesecake, these gift packages need to be handled with care. Although the mail-order food industry enjoys a good safety record, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gift giver and recipient need to take special precautions to ensure the safety of the food when it arrives. The giver needs to alert the recipient to the pending arrival of the food gift.
Many people also like to give gifts of homemade food at the holidays.
Generally, homemade foods do not pose a food-safety problem. But in some cases they can. Fortunately, he recovered. But his experience points to the need for consumers to follow instructions carefully when preserving foods. Even though the holidays present a number of unique food-safety challenges, consumers have plenty of places to go for good information on how to do things right.