Food safety

When you’re working with Deliveroo you are responsible for handling food for our customers. 

It is important that you are aware of some simple things to ensure the food is handled safely on its journey from the restaurant to the customer. 

Health condition 

Firstly, be aware of when you are unfit to work. If you are suffering from any of the following medical symptoms, you should get in contact with rider support to let them know that you should not be doing deliveries: 

  • contagious viruses (e.g. food poisoning, stomach bug, flu, COVID-19)
  • open sores and wounds
  • eye infections
  • skin conditions. 

Please then follow instructions from your doctor and do not work until at least 48 hours after the symptoms end.

Avoiding contamination 

Secondly, you need to make sure that you are delivering the food in a safe manner. The best way to do this is by using a thermal bag or backpack to transport the food. 

This will protect the food from germs and allow you to separate food with allergens – we’ll talk about this more in a bit. 

For health and safety reasons, you must not carry anything in the thermal bag which could contaminate the food or cause germs to spread. 

When carrying several orders please remember to keep them separately in the bags provided.

Restaurants take extra care to ensure that any customer allergies are taken into account and mixing orders up would cause cross-contamination. 

If an order spills, or another order spills on it, both orders will need to be re-made. You should dispose of any food which has spilled or has broken packaging and contact Rider Support so that the orders can be re-made. Not doing so could put someone’s life at risk. 

Once you have received the food, you must not eat, drink or smoke while delivering an order, as it could contaminate the food with germs. 

You are free to take a break at any point, however we advise that should you require a toilet break, you do so before accepting or after completing an order to avoid the unlikely event of any contamination. Remember to never handle unpackaged food or drinks. 

Personal hygiene 

Remember to do the following things to make sure everything is clean enough when you’re delivering food: Wash your clothing regularly to make sure it is free of bacteria and always wear clean clothing. 

Also, remember to keep long hair tied up and wash your hands thoroughly as often as possible. 

So when do you need to remember to wash your hands? You should always remember to do it before you do orders and before you start work. It is especially important to wash your hands after using the toilet, sneezing, coughing, smoking or cleaning. 

What is the correct way to wash your hands? Firstly, wet your hands with warm water and antibacterial soap. Then create a lather with the soap and water. 

Wash thoroughly, ensuring you cover all parts of your hands, including fingers and wrists. Then apply more water and soap and repeat. Wash the back of the hands and your thumbs and rinse off the remaining soap. 

Dry thoroughly with paper towels or a hand dryer. Finally, turn off the taps with a paper towel. 

You can ask restaurants to let you use their toilet and handwashing facilities whenever you're collecting an order from them.

Hygiene of equipment

Not only must you keep yourself clean but also your scooter or bike and your delivery equipment; whether that’s your thermal bags, backpack or box. 

Always remember to clean as you go and remove waste regularly. When you are cleaning your equipment you must use food safe chemicals. You should read the manufacturer's instructions carefully to ensure that the product is suitable for food surfaces and that you are using it correctly.

To effectively kill any harmful bacteria properly, you should make sure you:

  • leave the cleaning product on the surface for the time specified in the instructions
  • read the manufacturer's guidance to check if it needs to be diluted before use

Always remember to keep chemicals away from food and drinks and wash your hands. 

Also, be aware of pests; such as cockroaches and mice. If you ever find any evidence of these, thoroughly clean all contact surfaces before carrying any food or drinks. 

Food spillage 

Food may spill while carrying orders. If it does, you need to contact Rider Support to let them know as you will need the restaurant to re-make the order. It is critical that you then clean all your equipment thoroughly with disinfectant.