Labelling for Online and Delivery Food Sales

When you sell food online or through delivery platforms, the same labelling and allergen rules apply as they do in a shopfront, but the information has to reach the customer at the point of sale, before they buy. That means allergen declarations, ingredient details and business contact information must be visible on your website, app or menu listing, plus tamper-evident packaging so the customer knows their order arrived unopened. Key takeaways: Selling online does not change your obligations: allergen and ingredient information must be available to the customer before they order, not just on the box that arrives.. Declare the priority allergens clearly and consistently across your website, app and third-party delivery listings.. Use tamper-evident packaging so customers can tell if an order has been opened in transit.. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold, and label items with clear reheating or storage instructions where helpful.. Rules on the fine detail vary, so confirm requirements with your state or territory regulator and local council.. Online and delivery labelling at a glance: Requirement, What to do. Allergen information — Show priority allergens per item before the customer orders, consistently across all channels. Ingredient information — Provide item descriptions and be able to supply ingredient detail on request; full labels on pre-packaged products. Business details — Make business name and contact details available for queries and complaints. Tamper-evidence — Seal packaging so any opening is obvious on arrival. Temperature — Cold food at or below 5°C, hot food at or above 60°C; mind the 2-hour/4-hour rule. Third-party platforms — Keep listings accurate and updated; you remain responsible for labelling. The core rule: same standards, shown at point of sale Food you sell online or for delivery is still subject to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. The key difference is timing. In a shopfront a customer can ask a staff member about allergens before ordering; online, the customer often has no chance to ask, so the information has to be presented up front. In practice this means allergen and ingredient information needs to be available to the buyer at the point where they decide to purchase, whether that is your own website, your ordering app or a third-party delivery platform. Treat every online menu listing as if it were a label the customer reads before paying. If a customer cannot readily find allergen information for a dish before they order it, you have a gap to close. Point of sale online means the web page, app screen or platform listing where the customer places the order.. Information must be accurate, legible and easy to find, not buried in fine print or a separate document.. The same food, whether eaten in, taken away or delivered, carries the same allergen and ingredient obligations.. Allergen information the customer must be able to find before ordering Allergen declarations are the single most important piece of information for online sales, because a mistake can cause a serious reaction. The Food Standards Code requires certain priority allergens to be declared when present. These include cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley and oats), crustacea, egg, fish, milk, peanuts, soybeans, tree nuts, sesame, lupin and molluscs, along with added sulphites at or above the declarable level. For online and delivery sales, make sure a customer can identify which of these allergens are in each dish before they add it to the cart. Many operators do this with allergen tags or icons next to each menu item, an allergen matrix, or a clear statement on the item page. Whatever format you choose, keep it consistent across your own site and every delivery platform you list on, because customers may order from any of them. Declare the priority allergens listed in the Food Standards Code whenever they are present in a dish.. Show allergen information per item, not just in a single blanket disclaimer at the bottom of the menu.. Keep declarations identical across your website, app and third-party platforms to avoid contradictory information.. Include a way for customers to ask about allergens or cross-contact before finalising an order where possible.. Ingredient and business information Beyond allergens, customers benefit from knowing what is in a dish and who made it. For food made and packed on the same premises it is sold from, full packaged-food labelling is not always required in the same way as for pre-packaged retail products, but you should still be able to provide ingredient information on request and make key details easy to find. Include the business name and contact details so a customer can reach you with a query or complaint, and give each menu item a clear, accurate name and description so the customer knows what they are buying. If you sell pre-packaged products online that would normally require a full label in a shop, those products still need their standard label, including name, ingredient list, allergen declarations, best-before or use-by date and any required directions for use or storage. Because the detail of what must be shown can vary with how the food is packed and sold, confirm your specific situation with your state or territory regulator and local council. Provide a clear item name and description so the customer understands what they are ordering.. Make business name and contact details available for questions and complaints.. Pre-packaged products sold online still need their full retail label, including ingredients, allergens and date marking.. Be ready to supply ingredient information on request for freshly made items.. Tamper-evidence: proving the order arrived unopened When food passes through a driver or a delivery network, the customer wants confidence that no one has interfered with it between your kitchen and their door. Tamper-evident packaging gives that assurance. The aim is simple: the customer should be able to tell at a glance whether the package has been opened since it left you. Common approaches include tamper-evident stickers or seals across the lid or bag opening, stapled or heat-sealed bags, and shrink or security seals on containers. Choose a method that suits the food and the packaging so it does not compromise food safety, for example by trapping steam and creating condensation on hot food, or by making a container hard to reseal. Tamper-evidence also supports food-safety accountability: if a seal is intact on arrival, both you and the customer can be confident the food was not exposed in transit. Seal packaging so any opening is obvious to the customer on arrival.. Options include tamper-evident stickers, stapled or heat-sealed bags and shrink or security seals.. Pick a seal that suits the food, allowing hot food to vent where needed without breaking the seal.. A broken or missing seal should prompt the customer to reject the food and contact you.. Temperature control and storage information Delivery adds time and handling between your kitchen and the customer, so temperature control matters more, not less. Potentially hazardous food should be kept out of the temperature danger zone as much as possible: cold food at 5°C or below and hot food at 60°C or above. Use insulated bags and appropriate packaging to hold temperature during transit, and keep delivery times as short as practicable. The 2-hour/4-hour rule is a useful guide for how long ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food can safely spend in the danger zone across its whole life, including preparation, transit and any time before the customer eats it, so factor delivery time into that budget. Where it helps the customer, add simple storage or reheating instructions, for example to refrigerate promptly, eat within a set time or reheat until steaming hot. Clear instructions reduce the chance of a customer mishandling the food after it arrives. Keep cold food at or below 5°C and hot food at or above 60°C during transit.. Use insulated bags and packaging and keep delivery times short.. Remember the 2-hour/4-hour rule covers the food's whole life, including delivery time.. Add storage or reheating instructions where they help the customer handle food safely.. Managing third-party delivery platforms Selling through a third-party platform does not transfer your food-safety and labelling responsibilities to the platform. You are still the food business that made the food, so the accuracy of allergen tags, item descriptions and any labelling on the platform is your responsibility to get right and keep current. Review your platform listings whenever you change a recipe, supplier or ingredient, because an out-of-date allergen tag on a delivery app is just as dangerous as an incorrect physical label. Make sure the allergen information a customer sees on the platform matches what they would see on your own website, and that your kitchen processes match what you have declared. If a platform's menu tools do not let you present allergen information clearly, look for a workaround such as adding it to item descriptions, and confirm your obligations with your state or territory regulator and local council. You remain responsible for labelling accuracy even when a third party handles ordering and delivery.. Update platform listings immediately when recipes, ingredients or suppliers change.. Keep allergen information consistent between the platform and your own channels.. If platform tools are limited, add allergen detail to item descriptions rather than leaving it out.. Building a repeatable labelling process The safest online operations do not rely on memory. They build labelling into a routine so nothing slips. Start with an accurate ingredient list and allergen profile for every dish, kept in one place that everyone updates when recipes change. From that master record, generate the allergen information you publish on each channel, so there is a single source of truth rather than several drifting versions. Assign someone to review menu listings on a set schedule and after any menu change. Train kitchen and packing staff on allergen handling and on applying tamper-evident seals correctly every time. Keep records of your ingredient sources and any supplier changes, which helps you respond quickly if an ingredient is recalled or an allergen status changes. A documented process also demonstrates due diligence if a regulator or customer ever queries how you manage allergens for online sales. Maintain a master allergen and ingredient record for every menu item.. Publish from that single source to all channels to avoid conflicting information.. Schedule regular listing reviews and review again after every menu change.. Train staff on allergen handling and correct application of tamper-evident seals.. Checklist: Every menu item has an accurate allergen and ingredient record.. Priority allergens are shown per item on your website, app and each delivery platform.. Allergen information is identical across all sales channels.. Business name and contact details are easy to find for customers.. Pre-packaged products carry their full retail label including date marking.. Tamper-evident packaging is applied to every order.. Insulated packaging keeps hot food hot and cold food cold in transit.. Storage or reheating instructions are provided where useful.. Listings are reviewed on a schedule and after every menu change.. Common mistakes: Relying on a single blanket disclaimer instead of showing allergens per dish.. Letting delivery-platform allergen tags fall out of date after a recipe change.. Assuming the delivery platform, not you, is responsible for labelling accuracy.. Using packaging with no tamper-evident seal, so customers cannot tell if an order was opened.. Ignoring transit time when applying the 2-hour/4-hour rule to ready-to-eat food.. Publishing different allergen information on your own site and on third-party apps..