Conyers, Gerogia-based Dover Food Retail offers some food safety tips for merchandising in the deli and prepared departments.

• Avoid over-packing of product in a display case or setting product on the air return. Over-packing shelves can cause product to not be kept at proper temperatures and lead to display case service calls. Air must circulate around these products to keep them properly chilled.
• Keep product behind the load limit line and in the refrigerated cavity of a display case.
• Make sure you are using the right type of packaging for the application you are merchandising for and make sure you pick the right size of package.
• Over-packing when merchandising a service case will make it very difficult to adhere to the First In First Out rule.
• When merchandising a hot food case with wells, always cover empty sections of the bar with a pan or lid to avoid heat from escaping the hot food well.
• Keep approximately 1 inch from the bottom of a shelf to product merchandised below it. This is a minimum distance to provide a gap for air to flow over product on each shelf to keep product at the proper temperature.