Online And Distance Selling

Whether you are selling from home or selling from premises, there are rules you should implement before selling food online. You must provide safety, traceability, withdrawal and recall procedures.

Ignorance of the law is not a defence.

The Food Information Regulations 2014, state that businesses have a responsibility to provide accurate allergen information to all customers that request it.

The consequences of poor allergen control can be Death, Food allergies can kill.

Use in conjunction with

Food Businesses From Home

Distance selling means – selling either by

Online
Text messaging
Telephone
Interactive TV
Mail order
Websites
Social media pages
Online marketplaces
Catalogues
Newspapers
Leaflets

(Source Government website)

Setting Up – you must:

Business must be registered 28 days before opening, with the environmental health.
Name of food on the packet
List of Ingredients
List in bold allergens
Quantity of ingredients
Net ingredients
Use by date.
Special storage conditions e.g., store in a fridge
Name and address of business
Instructions for use
Nutrition declaration
Food hygiene certification
Inspection of premises

Delivery of foods sent by post or courier – all foods must be delivered in a way that ensures that it remains fit for human consumption. Foods that need refrigerating should be delivered as quickly as possible, ideally overnight, and may require packing in an insulated box with a coolant gel, or in a cool bag. Any packaging should be capable of protecting the food against mechanical damage and sources of contamination while it is in transit.

(Source text Trafford Gov UK)

Examples non-prepacked food sold online is packed for direct sale or supply to consumers.

Supermarket deli counters and bakeries
Pizza shops
Fish and chip shops
Chinese or Indian restaurants
Butchers that supply ‘meat boxes’
Traders or growers that supply ‘fruit and vegetable boxes’
Menu planning/recipe box services
Businesses that make food such as bread, cakes, chocolates, juices, and ethnic food at home and sell directly to the consumer online

These non-prepacked foods ruling changes in October 2021 see Natasha’s law below.

You must adhere to distance selling is the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. This applies to all goods sold by distance selling and selling food. You must provide:

The information which the seller needs to provide to the purchase before making the sale.
Rights to cancel the contract.
Recovery of sums paid on cancellation.
Restoration of goods by the consumer after cancellation.

Excellent Allergen Information VS Extremely Poor Allergen Information

Excellent – Sacred Chow

Thank you to Sacred Chow for permission to use their website for comparison, please check out their website.

https://sacredchow.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR093fuLU20OjfchmMFQeLAxTI1ffOmsvnoW7KU_CTVl9g6OLmQuXINTSVQ