The Town of Northborough Board of Health discussed and endorsed a written set of guidelines for the town’s community fridge on April 7, clarifying what foods volunteers may leave and how the program will be managed.

The board approved guidance that allows commercially packaged individual meals and frozen raw meat, poultry and seafood provided the items are frozen and remain sealed. The guidance prohibits cooked food, leftovers and unlabeled items; volunteers will be asked to date items and label donations.

Why it matters: The guidance aims to reduce food safety risk and volunteer confusion at the community fridge by standardizing what may be left, how items should be labeled and how volunteers should handle items that are expired or unsafe.

A board member presenting the guidance said the goal was "to make the guide very clean, very simple" and to accept "fresh and open food" under those limits. The presenter said volunteers had reported frequent issues with unlabeled or expired items and noted that donated prepared meals without commercial packaging would not be accepted.

Participants discussed edge cases such as home-laid eggs. A board member suggested accepting eggs if donors place a date on the container and that the program provide labels or markers to assist donors; another recommended supplying label makers or stickers to help volunteers track donation dates. Volunteers check the fridge twice daily, the board was told, and would discard items that are visibly expired.

The board also discussed storage duration concerns raised by volunteers and other municipalities’ practices; presenters said food from the fridge can spoil quickly and encouraged conservative handling. The guidance will be posted at the fridge and shared with partner organizations that help operate it.

Board members asked that the posted guidance be as visible and simple as possible and recommended giving on-site volunteers label supplies to reduce unlabeled donations. The transcript records consensus on the program’s core prohibitions and labeling requirements; no formal vote count was recorded in the meeting transcript.