Food safety

Food safety and hygiene policy

Familiarise yourself with the information below to ensure that you handle food safely and hygienically on its journey from the restaurant to the customer.

Personal hygiene and fitness to work

When handling food, it is easy for you to spread bacteria, which could make customers ill.  

Follow these rules to prevent spreading harmful bacteria and keep food safe:

  • If you are suffering from any of the below, you should not carry out deliveries:
    1) Symptoms of gastrointestinal infection, such as diarrhoea and vomiting
    2) Skin infections that can’t be covered, including open sores and wounds
  • Email Rider Support to let them know. 
  • Follow instructions from your doctor and do not work for 48 hours after symptoms end. 
  • Wash your clothing regularly and always wear clean clothing. 
  • Wash your hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap as often as possible, including:
    1) before starting work; and
    2) after using the toilet, sneezing, smoking or cleaning. 

 

Hygiene of equipment

Not only must you keep yourself clean but also your scooter or bike and your delivery equipment. 

Always remember to: 

  • Clean your thermal bag regularly and routinely;
  • Clean your thermal bag as you go, cleaning any spillages and removing waste before taking new orders; 
  • Thoroughly clean all contact surfaces before carrying any food or drinks if you ever find any evidence of pests; and
  • Use food safe chemicals for cleaning and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Contamination and cross-contamination 

Protection against contamination and cross-contamination is key to food safety.

Here are the best ways to do this:

  • Use a suitable thermal bag to protect food from the elements and germs.  It will also allow you to separate food with allergens; 
  • When carrying several orders, keep them separate in the bags provided;
  • Ensure you pack bags carefully to minimise the risk of spillages;
  • If an order spills, particularly an order with an allergen note (see Allergens box):
    - Contact Rider Support to arrange a new order to replace it.
    - Clean your equipment thoroughly with a disinfectant.
  • Never carry anything in the thermal bag which could contaminate the food or cause germs to spread; and
  • Never touch the food or open food bags after collecting from the restaurant.
  • Please use your halal bags when picking up food from halal restaurant partners

Food temperature

Food temperature is critical to food safety and quality.  

Our thermal bags are guaranteed to maintain food temperature for the length of a delivery, but you must assist with this by:

  • Always transporting food in a thermal bag;
  • Minimising the time that the food is outside the thermal bag, e.g. by placing food into the thermal bag asap at the restaurant;
  • Where possible, separate hot food from chilled food in the thermal bag.

Use of Halal Bags/Inserts

  • Dedicated Halal Bag Inserts: Riders must use a dedicated Halal bag for all Halal food deliveries. These inserts are marked and used exclusively for Halal food.
  • Cleanliness: Riders must ensure the Halal bag is clean and free from contaminants before each use.
  • Handling: Riders should handle Halal food separately from non-Halal food to avoid any risk of cross-contamination. A Halal bag is a dedicated bag used exclusively for Halal food deliveries. It is necessary to ensure there is no cross-contamination. Halal food must be placed in the dedicated Halal bag immediately after collection. It should not be mixed with non-Halal food items.

Allergens

The 14 allergens that must be indicated as present in food are:

  • Cereals containing gluten, namely: wheat (such as spelt and khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats
  • Crustaceans for example prawns, crabs, lobster, crayfish
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Peanuts
  • Soybeans
  • Milk (including lactose)
  • Nuts; e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia nuts
  • Celery (including celeriac)
  • Mustard
  • Sesame
  • Sulphur dioxide/sulphites, where added and at a level above 10mg/kg or 10mg/L in the finished product (e.g. preservative in dried fruit)
  • Lupin
  • Molluscs, e.g. mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid

Strict laws apply

Under your supplier agreement, you are required to comply with all applicable rules and regulations. Food delivery service operators are subject to food safety and hygiene requirements. It is therefore very important that you ensure that you do not handle food that you are delivering for us in a way that the food is unsafe, unsuitable or unfit for consumption.