Keeping food safe during the warm summer months

As summer approaches and temperatures continue to rise, Instacart wants to reiterate the importance of safely handling food while providing shopping and delivery services for your customers.

In accordance with industry best practices, Instacart’s insulated bag policy specifies that all Full Service Shoppers utilize insulated bags or hard coolers while transporting temperature-sensitive foods. When providing services in extremely hot climates, portable cold sources (i.e. ice packs, gel packs in their frozen state, frozen water bottles) are also recommended.

The Safe Food Handling badge in your Shopper App provides you with two options to demonstrate your commitment to safely handling foods with approved insulated bags or coolers.

1. You have the opportunity to purchase an Insulated Bag Kit (4 Bags) directly through the Shopper App from Bamko, Instacart’s preferred insulated bag kit vendor.
2. If you’d like to utilize your own insulated bags, we ask that you follow the applicable prompts in the Safe Food Handling flow and send support an email with a photo and description of your bags for approval.

If you do not see the Safe Food Handling badge in the App and would like to order an Insulated Bag Kit through Bamko, please contact our shopper support team and they will resurface the badge for you.

For more information on food safety best practices while providing services, we encourage you to visit our help center article on this topic.

You can test your food safety knowledge by completing Instacart’s Food Safety Walkthrough. This interactive guidance tool takes less than 10 minutes to complete and breaks down some of the key food safety topics that you’ll encounter while providing shopping and delivery services.

Thank you for your continued support in keeping your customers safe! Happy Shopping!

Instacart Food Safety Team