This policy explains how food safety and allergens work on Meal2U. It applies to all cooks, including home cooks, restaurants and cloud kitchens, and to delivery partners who carry food. Cooks must also follow the Terms for Cooks.
Who is responsible
Each cook is an independent food business and the seller of the food they list. The cook is responsible for the safety of that food, including hygiene, storage, temperature control, packaging, labelling and allergen information. Every cook must comply with the food safety, hygiene, registration and allergen laws of the country where they cook and sell, and with any international food safety rules that apply to them.
Registration and checks
Meal2U staff check every cook’s government ID before the kitchen can take orders. Cooks must register as a food business wherever their country requires it, and should add their registration number, their official food hygiene rating and the authority that gave it in the app.
Kitchen inspections and ratings
Meal2U carries out regular inspections of cooks’ kitchens to check hygiene, food storage, temperature control, cleanliness, pest control, allergen handling and the accuracy of dish descriptions. Inspections may be announced or unannounced, in person or by video, and may happen at any reasonable time while your kitchen is open on Meal2U. By listing on Meal2U you agree to allow these inspections.
After an inspection Meal2U may give your kitchen a rating, and may show that rating to customers in the app and on our website. Meal2U’s rating is separate from, and does not replace, any official food hygiene rating given by your local authority.
If a kitchen fails an inspection, Meal2U may require improvements by a set date, pause the kitchen until it passes a new inspection, or, where the result is very poor or there is a risk to health, cancel the cook’s registration or subscription and close the account. Meal2U may also report serious food safety concerns to the food authority in your country.
Allergens: declare as many as possible
For every dish, you must declare every allergen it contains, as fully and accurately as you can. As a minimum you must always declare the fourteen major allergens recognised in UK and EU law: celery; cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats); crustaceans such as prawns, crab and lobster; eggs; fish; lupin; milk; molluscs such as mussels and squid; mustard; tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts), naming the nut; peanuts; sesame; soya; and sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg per kg or per litre.
You must also declare any other ingredient that commonly causes allergies or intolerances, or that the law of your country requires to be declared. Examples include buckwheat, peach, kiwi fruit, banana, pine nuts, coconut, peas, lentils and other legumes, corn, garlic, onion, gelatine, pork, beef, alcohol, and food colourings or additives known to cause reactions.
You must say clearly if a dish may contain traces of an allergen because of how your kitchen works, for example shared surfaces, shared fryers or oil, or flour in the air. Never describe a dish as free from an allergen unless you are sure it is. The allergen information must be available to the customer before they order and when the food arrives, for example on a label on the packaging, and you must update it straight away whenever a recipe or an ingredient brand changes. If a customer asks about allergens, answer honestly, and if you are not sure, say so.
Describe the recipe and how each dish is cooked
In each dish’s description you must state its full recipe in plain words: every ingredient, including the ingredients inside sauces, pastes, stocks, spice mixes and ready-made products. You must also say how the dish is made and cooked, for example whether it is fried, deep-fried, baked, grilled, steamed, slow-cooked or served raw. Say which oil or fat you use, whether the dish is cooked fresh to order or made in advance and reheated, and how it should be stored and reheated by the customer. Dietary labels such as vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher or spicy must only be used when they are true.
For customers with allergies
Read the ingredients, allergens and cooking method on the dish page before you order. If you have an allergy or intolerance, contact the cook through the app before ordering, and do not eat food you are unsure about.
Handover and delivery
Food must be packed securely and be ready at the time shown. Delivery partners carry food sealed exactly as it was handed over, keep it clean and at a safe temperature, and must never open the packaging.
Problems and complaints
If you think food was unsafe, contact support immediately with your order number. Meal2U can pause a kitchen while it looks into a complaint, and may report serious incidents to the food authority in the cook’s country.