Best Practices for Managing a Direct-To-Consumers (DTC) Delivery Food Safety Program

As a critical component of a food safety program, a comprehensive monitoring system helps verify food safety policies and systems are being applied consistently and sustainably, and identifies continuous improvements or corrective actions.

In designing a monitoring approach, you should consider the following:

• Which validated food safety measures should be monitored
• Where monitoring will occur, whether in production, transportation, and/or upon delivery
• How monitoring will be conducted for each food safety measure
• How the monitoring system will be described and communicated
• How often each monitoring tactic will be implemented
• Who will be responsible for conducting monitoring?
• How deviations will be addressed
• How monitoring results will be recorded
• What consumer inquiries and complaints have been received

A monitoring system should be based on the validated measures that you have determined are needed to control its food safety risks. Each validated risk-control measure should be evaluated to determine the best approach for monitoring, considering the type of data to be gathered, how the data will be used, how frequently the control measure should be evaluated, who should gather and/or interpret data, which key performance indicators should be used, and how monitoring results should be reported.

Once a system is in place to monitor the key components of a food safety program, you should establish processes to address noncompliance and improve risk management. These processes should include expectations for communicating nonconformances and performance metrics. For example, including an escalation process to relay nonconformances to the appropriate individuals and departments can help ensure issues are addressed promptly. You should ensure qualified individuals have the authority to take corrective actions.

As part of your efforts toward continuous improvement, you should also continually research the most current food safety innovations and technologies in the manufacturing and retail food industries. Remaining up to date on industry trends can help an organization become aware of the best available food safety tools to be more efficient, respond faster to alerts, take corrective actions, and adjust food safety procedures.

When developing corrective and preventive control plans, you should consider the following:

• Engaging stakeholders (e.g., representatives from food manufacturer/food establishment, product delivery/transportation company, or external auditing firm)
• Establishing requirements for communicating nonconformances, including timing protocols based on potential risk
• Determining what parties must be notified and level of escalation based on risk
• Identifying who is responsible for implementing the plan
• Monitoring corrective and preventive actions to ensure they are effectively implemented
• Incorporating root-cause analyses to assist with corrective actions and adjustment of protocols as needed
• Conducting targeted training for personnel to identify and correct errors in the food safety management program
• Using accountability models (e.g., number of higher-risk occurrences triggering escalation)
• Reassessing studies or procedures to determine whether improvements are needed to resolve operational or behaviour-related occurrences

Additional Considerations for TPD (Third Party Delivery) Guidance:

While much of the guidance for DTC applies to TPD, there are additional challenges that must be met. All parties engaging in TPD should understand the relevant food safety risks and define roles for such parties to help minimize those risks. The parties to the business agreement should clearly identify the responsible party during each stage of the flow of food, from preparation to staging to delivery.

How Do I Select a Delivery Partner?

First, do your homework. Not all delivery services are created equal. Unilever has posted great tips for how to navigate this process:

1. Pick partners with the right delivery processes

Food delivery companies seem to work in the same way—a customer places an order, and their rider goes to pick it up and deliver it. But there’s much more. Find out how their delivery riders handle the orders. How is the food kept? What’s the maximum delivery duration? Does the company have an efficient delivery tracking system?

2. Ensure high food packaging integrity

No matter the weather, delivering food can be a challenge, affecting the quality and food safety of your delivered meals. Use practical, quality food packaging such as thicker, biodegradable materials that can hold moist food well for a longer period. Most importantly, ensure that your food delivery company uses insulated bags to keep your food warm and fresh during delivery.

3. Use long-lasting ingredients to avoid spoilage

Consider having a line of dishes created especially for delivery. You can also use better quality, long-lasting ingredients and ready-to-use, stable sauces to prepare your already-popular meals for delivery.

4. Run inspections for consistent, optimal food safety

The last thing any food operator wants is to deliver spoiled or tainted foods that may harm customers or create a PR disaster. Hire staff dedicated to perform quality checks or train your existing team in a certified food handling course to ensure food safety standards are met.

5. Make the use of sanitizers, gloves, and hairnets compulsory

Keeping the kitchen clean is the first step toward maintaining good food safety. Small practices like using hand sanitizers, gloves, and hairnets can go a long way. You can also place signs in the restroom to remind employees to wash their hands with soap after each visit. These are all cheap and easy ways to protect your food from being contaminated before delivery.

The choice of a delivery partner depends on a range of factors, including the size and weight of packages, availability of service, general reliability, historic performance, and commercial viability. Specialized delivery services utilizing refrigerated transport may be appropriate. Since some carriers may not deliver 7 days a week, some companies may choose to ship only certain days of the week to ensure timely delivery.

Some TPD services offer the option of signature release (i.e., requiring a signature for delivery). This has the advantage of ensuring someone is immediately available to receive and refrigerate the food upon receipt. It presents the challenge of delaying delivery if a signatory is not available.

A non-delivery may occur if the carrier cannot find the delivery address, for example. Any process for non-deliveries should be agreed to by the carrier. Some carriers may have specific requirements regarding packaging and labeling related to non-deliveries.

What Are the Basic Requirements for TPD?

Preventing Contamination:

Preventing contamination is a key aspect of food safety. Food establishments and food shoppers should minimize contamination risks by determining which items will be segregated and how items should be packaged. An added challenge in TPD is that various food and non-perishable food products may be delivered together. Best practices are to (a) separate ready-to-eat foods from raw proteins, (b) separate chemicals and non-food products from food products, and (c) separate glass and other fragile food products to reduce breakage risks. Separation options may include separate bags or the use of another barrier.

You should have processes to determine whether food deliverers may prepare beverages, collect accompanying utensils, napkins, or condiments, or package foods.

Time/Temperature Control:

Temperature control should be considered when delivering food to the consumer through a TPD service. However, time as a public health control is also acceptable for limiting pathogenic bacterial growth. A wide variety of transportation vehicles are used to provide delivery services. A refrigerated or freezer vehicle may be ideal in maintaining temperature control. If the transport vehicle does not have a mechanism to control the ambient temperature of the vehicle, food deliverers should address all relevant food safety concerns and hazards when transporting the food. Food deliverer procedures may include the use of insulated delivery bags, containers, or coolers, or use of coolants to keep foods hot or cold.

For foodservice establishments using food ordering platforms, you should issue guidelines to your delivery services to deliver orders safely and in accordance with relevant safety standards, and to follow any food establishment delivery guidelines that are meant to promote food safety and compliance with applicable regulations.

You should hold foods in a staging area at proper product temperatures prior to pick-up and delivery by the TPD service. A temperature-monitoring process for staging foods may be needed to ensure food is maintained at the proper temperature until ready for pickup and delivery to the consumer.

Packaging:

Packaging protects and separates products from contamination, the external environment, and physical damage. Packaging design and using multiple layers of packaging, including primary, secondary, and tertiary, minimize the risks associated with contaminants and food safety hazards. Primary and secondary packaging, such as foil wraps, direct food contact containers, and plastic bags, directly protects the food. Tertiary packaging or outer packaging, such as delivery bags or coolers, provides protection from the external environment, including extreme temperatures, direct sunlight, weather, road debris, and animals and pests.

You should not reuse primary and secondary packaging. The tertiary or outer packaging should be constructed of durable and easily cleanable materials for reuse to transport food during deliveries. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has created a guide for foodservice on reducing food waste and packaging that you may wish to consult.

Work with your TPD services to determine correct storage (e.g., upright) and amount of food to be packaged during transportation to avoid crushing of food or damage to primary food containers that could potentially contaminate other food or lead to unclean delivery bags.

Food Tampering:

Prevention of food tampering activities occurs through packaging design and tamper-evident devices. You may utilize primary packaging that cannot be resealed, such as tear strips, and secondary packaging, such as bags or boxes, with tamper-evident tape, stickers, or seals to deter food tampering activities during food delivery and maintain food safety and integrity.

TPD services should not remove food products from the secondary or tertiary packaging until delivered to the consumer. Food deliverers and food shoppers should not open, alter, tamper with, or change the primary or secondary packaging.

Delivery Bag Usage, Maintenance, and Cleanliness:

Food deliverers may use insulated delivery bags that help minimize food temperature fluctuations and/or help maintain food temperatures during delivery to the consumer. In addition to insulated delivery bags, food deliverers can add other refrigerants or coolants, such as ice and/or gel packs, that may help reduce the rise in product temperatures during extended delivery times.

Delivery durations, ambient temperatures and conditions, and intended food temperatures at delivery may help food deliverers identify the need to use insulated delivery bags. Delivery bags can be designed and manufactured to support a variety of business needs. The materials, construction, and design of the bag can be customized to maintain food hot or cold and can be designed with pouches to separate cold food from hot food.

Some TPD entities offer personal shopping services in addition to delivery services. Food shoppers might also utilize bags during selection and packing of products and should ensure bags are clean and in good repair.

Vehicle Cleanliness and Inspections:

A variety of vehicles or transportation methods (e.g., walkers, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, autonomous vehicles, or drones) may be used to transport food, depending upon the delivery location and accessibility. Vehicles should be clean and free from odors, pests, animals, and any other materials that could adversely impact food safety. Food deliverers should inspect vehicles frequently to ensure that interiors are clean and free from debris. Food ordering platforms should provide food deliverers with information on maintaining their vehicles in safe conditions, such as vehicle cleanliness and maintenance.

Recall Preparedness:

Work with your TPD services to (a) provide trace-forward information to track where recalled product was delivered to (e.g., consumer information) and (b) provide traceback information to track where recalled product originated from (e.g., distributor, supplier, manufacturer, farm).

Best practices for DTC food delivery companies and TPD services (e.g., food ordering platforms and retail food establishments) are to have processes related to trace-forward and traceback actions developed and to have appropriate records to manage potential recalls.

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