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Food Safety Standards

Effective Date: 1 January 2026 · Version 1.0 · Applies To: Food and Beverage Merchants

This document sets out the food safety standards that all Food Merchants must comply with when preparing and dispatching orders through the Vyete Platform.

1. Licences and Permits

Before activating a food menu on Vyete, you must hold and maintain:

  • A valid single business permit or trade licence.
  • A Public Health Clearance Certificate from the relevant county health authority.
  • Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certification or equivalent where required by regulation.
  • Any additional permits required for the sale of alcohol, tobacco, or regulated health supplements.

Copies of current licences must be uploaded to the Merchant Dashboard. A Food Merchant whose permits lapse must deactivate their menu until valid permits are restored. Vyete may request updated copies on renewal.

2. Food Handler Certification

All staff who handle food — whether in preparation, packaging, or handover — must hold current food handler certificates as required by applicable county health regulations. Records of food handler certifications must be maintained and made available to Vyete on request.

3. Temperature Control

You are responsible for maintaining safe food temperatures at the point of handover to the Courier or Driver.

| Food Type | Minimum Standard at Handover | |---|---| | Hot food | ≥ 63 °C | | Cold food | ≤ 8 °C (refrigerated storage until pickup) | | Frozen items | ≤ −18 °C (where applicable) |

Cold-chain responsibility: Couriers are responsible for temperature maintenance during transit only if they have declared cold-chain capability. If a Courier does not support cold-chain delivery, you must not dispatch temperature-sensitive items unless the delivery time is brief enough to maintain safe temperatures throughout transit.

4. Ingredient Freshness and Expiry

You must not:

  • Prepare food from expired, spoiled, or recalled ingredients.
  • Dispatch orders that have sat beyond safe holding times after preparation.
  • Misrepresent the freshness of ingredients, the preparation date, or the "made today" status of an item.

5. Packaging Requirements

All food items must be:

  • Sealed to prevent contamination during transit.
  • Labelled with the order contents sufficient for the Driver to verify the correct items.
  • Temperature-maintained as required (insulated packaging for hot or cold items where delivery time or distance warrants it).
  • Leak-proof for liquid items (soups, sauces, beverages).

Failure to package items adequately that results in damage, contamination, or Customer illness may void your right to claim compensation for any transit-related losses and may result in enforcement action.

6. Food Safety Incident Response

In the event of a Customer reporting illness, food poisoning, or an allergic reaction attributable to a meal you prepared:

  1. Notify Vyete at [email protected] within 4 hours of becoming aware.
  2. Preserve ingredient records and batch information for the affected order.
  3. Cooperate fully with Vyete's investigation.
  4. Report the incident to the relevant county health authority where required by law.

Vyete may suspend your menu pending investigation of any food safety incident. Suspension does not imply fault; it is a precautionary measure to protect Customers while the facts are established.

7. Prohibited Menu Items

The following may not be listed on the Vyete Menu Service under any circumstances:

| Prohibited Category | Examples | |---|---| | Alcohol (without licence) | Beer, wine, spirits, fermented beverages — unless the Merchant holds the applicable licence and has been approved by Vyete | | Tobacco and related products | Cigarettes, e-cigarettes, shisha, snuff | | Controlled substances | Any substance prohibited under Kenyan law | | Unlicensed game meat | Meat derived from wildlife sources without a valid KWS licence | | Prescription medicines and supplements | Items requiring a prescription or carrying regulated health claims | | Expired or adulterated products | Items past expiry date or containing unlicensed additives |

8. Performance Standards (Food Safety)

Vyete monitors food safety-related performance metrics:

| Metric | Action Threshold | |---|---| | Food safety or illness complaint rate | Review initiated at > 2 substantiated complaints in any 30-day period | | Allergen declaration completeness | Immediate remediation required if allergen fields are blank on active items | | Permit validity | Menu deactivated within 24 hours of permit lapse |

Refer to the Allergen & Dietary Policy for allergen-specific obligations and the Menu Terms & Management for availability and accuracy obligations.

9. Contact

Food safety enquiries and incident reports: [email protected]