How To Ensure Your Online Food Delivery Safety

Companies have come up with any terms to ensure food delivery safety. Let that be introducing regulations for the delivery partners, or simply encouraging customers to follow safety norms. So let’s see what are the 3 things that you can do best to ensure your safety while ordering food online.

1. Check if the restaurant complies with the safety standards

If you have used Swiggy in recent times, you may for sure have seen the health compliance infographic that tells you about the measure that is taken inside the kitchen and the cleanliness policies followed. At the same time, as per reports, many restaurants claimed to make the health reports of the staff available for the public. This gives a good idea about the restaurant.

Swiggy says that it has kept the virus at bay by following proper safety protocol, thus creating trust among its users. Also, the availability of Swiggy coupons and discounts attract more people to shop from their favourite delivery app post the lockdowns.

When you do use the app to order your food, here are a few things that you can check to monitor the quality of health precautions being taken in the restaurants.

1. Check what people are saying in the recent reviews.
2. Visit the social channels to know more about the restaurant’s safety measures.
3. Check if any news has been published about the restaurant’s safety precautions by typing “name of the restaurant” followed by the word “news” in Google search.
4. Call up the restaurant and ask about their safety policies.

2. Never ignore contactless delivery

Although many food ordering apps follow contactless delivery, that means they keep the parcel a few metres away from your door and informing you either through a call, or a message, you can do your part in making sure that the delivery is safe. Here are a few things that you can take care of from your side to ensure you are at no risk while accepting the order.

1. Call the delivery agent when you get the number and let them know where you would like them to drop the parcel for you.
2. Do keep an eye at the door or your phone so you can instantly check when you get the notification about the delivery confirmation.
3. Keep a note in the special instructions column on the app itself while placing the order.
4. You can also place a basket (that you sanitise often) so the delivery executive gets a direct instruction about where he should drop the parcel.

3. Choose online payment methods

The cashless transaction has been at the top of the payment discussions in India lately, however it was not until very recently when more people started taking it very seriously. Cash travels to many places and touches lots of hands. As per ngpf.org, a 1 dollar or 5 dollar bill touches at least more than a hundred hands per year. This means a hundred different people have had contact with the note, and the older the note is, the more hands it has been in. Thus, notes can act as contaminants of germs and carry the bacteria. Another study posted in time.com shows that notes can carry pathogens that may lead to serious illnesses.

Thus it is advisable for you to make the payments online instead of choosing cash on delivery (for obvious reasons). If you do not have a card or wallet money handy, you could drop the exact amount of cash (after sanitising with a spray sanitiser) into the basket where you expect the delivery guy to place the parcel. This reduces the contact (even for cash on delivery orders), and limits risks.

You would be glad to see, however, how many more wallets and payment methods are accepted by food delivery apps! Swiggy recently also started its own wallet called Swiggy wallet which is a build-in payment mode in the app itself that will make it easier for the customer to pay instantly and securely. The payment is connected through ICICI bank and allows people to store credits and spend from while placing an order on Swiggy.

4. Sanitisation of the parcel itself

Now once you have got the parcel and the delivery guy has gone, it’s your turn to ensure it is risk-free you can do so by keeping it untouched unless you spray it with a spray sanitiser. Use gloves while you do so in case you need to turn the parcel over to spray on all of its sides. You can throw the gloves later, or keep it unused or sanitised for later. Plastic gloves that are one use-and-through are great for such reasons. Avoid latex gloves which can be harder to put on and take off, especially given the conditions.

Let it dry as spray disinfectants usually take about 10 minutes to dry completely. The go-ahead and consider using it.

Final Thought

Taking all precautions needed at each level will help to keep the infection further away. Simply have the idea of sanitisation and distancing to reduce the risks and have a food delivery safety. You can check more resources at the WHO website on how to be safe during the pandemic.

About the Author

Aamer Hussain is a senior content writer who is passionate about sharing his knowledge and advice that he collated online and learned from his own experiences during the recent challenges.