How to foster food safety in home delivery

More than ever, consumers today expect convenience and that includes being able to order groceries with a computer or smart phone app and get them delivered to their homes within a specific time window. Although some grocery retailers provide home delivery themselves, many are partnering with third-party delivery services such as San Francisco-based Instacart and Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt.

“We’re all looking to meet and exceed our customers’ needs,” emphasizes Cory Hedman, vice president of food safety and quality assurance at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer Inc., which is using Shipt to provide home delivery across 25 stores in the Detroit area.

Whatever the means of delivery, retailers’ reputations as well as the health of their customers could be compromised if food safety isn’t made a top priority, noted Hedman during a session at the recent Food Safety Summit in Rosemont, Ill.

Because private brand foods frequently reside in the refrigerated and frozen sections of the store, safe handling and transport of perishable store brands is critically important to ensuring consumer trust in those brands and the retailer itself.

“Home delivery isn’t really new, but it does present different challenges for retailers,” Hedman said.

When vetting potential third-party delivery partners, retailers should make sure the companies under consideration take the following precautions, he stressed:

• The people who shop on behalf of consumers are usually independent contractors as is the case with Shipt or, at best, part-time employees of the delivery provider. Scrutinize the extent to which these shoppers are vetted and trained.

• Make sure that the service provider trains shoppers on the hazards of cross-contamination, the need to shop for perishable items at the end of the store visit, and the use of sell-by dates to select the freshest dairy and meat items. Also, ensure that the contractor educates shoppers on the need for frequent hand-washing and use of hand-sanitizers.

• The delivery partner should have written guidelines in place to ensure safe, wholesome product — a document that all shoppers should know well.

• Shipt has a rule that its shoppers can shop for no more than two customers at a time. The delivery company should have controls in place so shoppers are not shopping for multiple (four or more) customers simultaneously.

• Shipt promises same-day service in one-hour time windows — in as little as an hour after the order is placed. More important from a safety standpoint, the company works to ensure that order delivery occurs no more than 10 to 20 minutes after the shopping is completed. Be sure that the company guarantees similarly prompt delivery after shopping.

• Delivery services should use insulated bags or coolers for perishable food during transport.

Retailers should also educate consumers about the need to schedule deliveries when someone is home who can bring in items that need to be refrigerated or placed in a freezer. Consumers should be warned to exercise extreme caution if they find a box containing perishable food left on their doorstep.

“Retailers need to keep their eyes wide open,” Hedman said. “When you think about food safety in delivery, it doesn’t happen by accident. It takes very specific actions to control the safety of food.”