Selling Food Online: Distance Selling and Allergen Rules for UK Producers

Selling food you never hand over in person

Selling food online, through your own website, a marketplace, or social media, has opened huge opportunities for small producers. But it also creates a specific challenge: the customer buys without seeing the food, and often without face-to-face contact at any point. UK food law has specific rules for this "distance selling," particularly around allergens, and getting them right is essential.

Here's what you need to know to sell food online safely and legally.

Yes, you still need to register

Selling food online makes you a food business, and you need to register with your local authority, the same as any other food business, at least 28 days before you start trading. This applies whether you sell through a website, an online marketplace, or social media platforms. If you sell under more than one trading name, you can usually include them on one registration. Our guide to registering a food business covers the process.

The distance selling allergen rule

This is the part unique to online selling, and the part most often got wrong. When you sell food at a distance, allergen information must be provided at two distinct points:

Before the purchase is completed. The customer must be able to access allergen information at the point they choose and order the food, for example on the product page, before they pay. They can't be made to buy first and find out later.
At the point of delivery. Allergen information must also be provided when the food is physically delivered, for example on the packaging or an accompanying document.

This two-point rule exists because the customer can't ask a person at the counter. They're relying entirely on the information you provide online and on delivery, so the law requires it at both stages. Providing it only on the website, or only on delivery, isn't enough; you need both.

For prepacked items, the label itself covers the delivery requirement. The online requirement means the same allergen information must also be available before ordering. For made-to-order or PPDS items, you need to ensure both points are genuinely covered.

Labelling for online sales

The labelling requirements that apply to your product apply regardless of the sales channel. Prepacked food sold online still needs all the mandatory information, name, ingredients with allergens emphasised, date mark, storage, business name and GB address, and so on. Selling online doesn't reduce what must be on the label; it adds the requirement to make key information available before purchase too. Our guide to UK food labelling covers the full mandatory list.

Keeping food safe in transit

The other big online-selling challenge is food safety during delivery, a stage you don't fully control once it leaves you. Depending on what you sell:

Ambient, stable products (high-sugar preserves, dried goods, biscuits) travel relatively easily, but still need protective, food-safe packaging.
Chilled products are far harder. If you sell chilled food by post or courier, you must ensure it stays at a safe temperature for the whole journey, which means appropriate insulated packaging, coolants, and realistic delivery timeframes. This is a genuine food safety responsibility, not just good service.
Higher-risk chilled, ready-to-eat products sold by post need particular care and may require validated packaging and tested delivery times to ensure the cold chain holds.

Think carefully before selling higher-risk chilled products by post. If the cold chain can't be reliably maintained for the delivery time, the product can become unsafe in transit, and that's your responsibility. Many small producers sensibly stick to ambient products for postal sales and keep chilled products to local delivery they control.

Don't forget the rest of your obligations

Selling online doesn't change your underlying food safety system. You still need your HACCP-based procedures, your records, your traceability (so you can trace and, if needed, recall products sold online), and your prerequisite programmes. Traceability matters particularly for online sales, because your customers may be dispersed and a recall needs you to know what went where. Our guide to traceability covers this.

Keeping your records, allergen information, and product details in one accessible system makes managing an online food business much easier, especially the allergen information that has to be accurate both on your website and on delivery. FoodSafe holds your product and allergen information alongside the rest of your compliance, giving you one accurate source to feed your product pages and your labels from, so the two-point allergen rule is met from consistent, current information.

Sell online with the rules handled

Selling food online is a real opportunity for small producers, and it's entirely doable properly. Register as a food business, meet the distance selling allergen rule by providing information both before purchase and on delivery, label your products fully, take real responsibility for food safety in transit (and be cautious about posting higher-risk chilled products), and keep your traceability and records in order. Handle those, and you can grow an online food business with confidence that the compliance is sound.

For selling in person at markets and events, see our guide to selling food at markets.

Food safety compliance, handled.