Guide · Food safety · UK
Delivery adds a leg to the food safety journey - the one you control least. Here are the real weak points: temperature in transit, cross-contamination and allergens at packing, and the handover to a courier you did not train.
Delivery and takeaway added a whole new leg to the food safety journey, and it is the leg you control least. Inside your kitchen you can see the fridge temperature and the cooking probe. Once an order leaves in a bag on the back of a bike, it is out of your hands - but not out of your responsibility. The law is clear that food must reach the customer safe to eat, and the weak points are almost always in the handover: the minutes between packing and the doorstep, and the systems you did or did not put around them.
A dish served at the pass is eaten within minutes. The same dish delivered spends time being portioned, packed, queued and carried, and every one of those minutes is a chance for it to drift into the danger zone between 8C and 63C where bacteria multiply. Delivery does not change the food safety rules; it stretches the timeline they have to survive. If you have added delivery to an existing business, the first job is to revisit your HACCP-based system so it actually covers transport, rather than assuming the kitchen controls are enough.
Temperature in transit
The central control is the same one you use in the kitchen, applied to the journey: keep food out of the danger zone all the way to the customer.
Hot food being held for delivery should stay at 63C or above, and it is good practice to make sure it is thoroughly hot before it leaves. Chilled food needs to be kept cold - packed in insulated boxes or bags with coolant packs - and held at 8C or below, ideally cooler. Insulation only buys time, so route planning and prompt handover matter as much as the bag: the longer the trip, the more a lukewarm container slides towards the middle of the danger zone. Choose menu items that travel well, use food-grade sealed containers, and keep hot boxes and cool bags clean between runs.
The quieter risks
Temperature gets the attention, but the subtler weak points cause just as many problems. Cross-contamination in the packing process is one: an allergen-free meal packed next to a leaking curry, or a shared bag where spillage runs between orders. Allergen-free and allergen-specific meals should be sealed, kept separate in transit, and clearly labelled so it is obvious on the doorstep which container is which - a sticker or a note on the lid is enough. Tamper-evident packaging closes another gap, giving the customer confidence the food was not interfered with on the way.
The biggest structural weak point is the handover to a courier you do not employ. Third-party delivery platforms put your food in the hands of a rider you have not trained, and while the platform may have its own requirements, the responsibility for the food being safe when it reaches the customer still rests with you. That means packing to survive a journey you cannot supervise, labelling clearly, and keeping records of your side of the process. Selling at a distance also brings its own allergen duty: allergen information must be available to the customer at two points - before they order and again when the food is delivered - which ties back to the same discipline as your temperature control records for demonstrating control across the whole operation.
Where the kitchen still matters
It is tempting to think of delivery risk as a transport problem, but many of the failures start on the bench. Food that was cooked and held correctly but packed slowly, or packed hot into a sealed container that then sweats and cools slowly, arrives in worse condition than it left. Portioning and packing time counts against the same clock as the journey. High-volume delivery kitchens feel this most, because the pass is under pressure and the packing station is where corners get cut when tickets pile up.
The fix is systems, not heroics. Build packing and dispatch into your food safety management system with defined steps, keep the packing area and its equipment genuinely clean so nothing is contaminated at the last moment, and train delivery-facing staff in the same temperature and allergen basics as the kitchen. Treat cross-contamination in packing as seriously as you treat it in prep, because the effect on the customer is identical. A clean, disciplined packing operation is simply an extension of a clean kitchen - and the same rigour that keeps cross-contamination from costing you a hygiene rating is what keeps a delivered meal as safe as one eaten in.
Questions
Keep food out of the danger zone all the way to the customer. Hot food held for delivery should stay at 63C or above in insulated bags, and it is good practice to make sure it is thoroughly hot before it leaves. Chilled food should be kept cold in cool bags or boxes with coolant packs, at 8C or below and ideally cooler.
Yes. If you add delivery to an existing business, revisit your HACCP-based food safety management system so it actually covers transport - portioning, packing, temperature control in transit and the handover - rather than assuming the kitchen controls are enough.
Seal them, keep them separate in transit, and label them clearly so it is obvious on the doorstep which container is which - a sticker or note on the lid is enough. Selling at a distance also requires allergen information to be available before the customer orders and again when the food is delivered.
You are. Even though the platform may have its own requirements and the rider is not your employee, the responsibility for the food being safe when it reaches the customer still rests with the food business. Pack to survive a journey you cannot supervise, label clearly, and keep records of your side of the process.
Slow portioning and packing, and packing hot food into sealed containers that sweat and cool slowly, both count against the same clock as the journey. Cross-contamination at the packing station is as serious as in prep. Build packing and dispatch into your food safety system, keep the area clean, and train delivery-facing staff in the same basics as the kitchen.
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