Many online companies that sell meal kits and ready-to-heat meals are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

The products are not inherently unsafe, experts say, but customers should be alert to the risk of foodborne illness when eating perishable foods delivered to their doorsteps.

Here are a few strategies that experts and food safety officials recommend to ensure that meal kit supplies and ready-to-heat meals are safe to eat.

The Daily Harvest outbreak is the first widespread case of foodborne illness to be reported in the $15-billion meal kit industry.

Food safety information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and North Carolina State University.

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Laura J. Nelson is an investigative and enterprise reporter at the Los Angeles Times.