Research by the Italian enogastronomic magazine Gambero Rosso shows that the average box of meal delivery companies is full of bacteria. In one box even 200 colonies of bacteria were found. “There are regular checks in restaurants and collection points, but not specifically of couriers.”
‘Thuisbezorgde Bacteria’ is the title of the cover of Gambero Rosso, Italy’s most prestigious enogastronomic magazine. According to the magazine, food delivery hygiene is a serious problem. The extensive research shows that packages are often not properly closed, that hot meals, such as pizzas, arrive at the client too cold and cold meals, such as sushi, are too warm and that the meal boxes that the deliverers carry on their backs are true sources of bacteria.
One such meal box, which was visually and odorlessly clean, was found to house more than 200 colonies of bacteria. That is, writes Gambero Rosso, three times as much as may be found on the floor of a restaurant during a hygiene check. A restaurant with so many bacteria on the floor would immediately be closed, a courier with so many bacteria in his box, on which food is placed directly, is allowed to continue driving.
Lack of control
The play’s writers denounce the lack of control over the food couriers; the checks on restaurants and food shops are very strict, there is even a special unit of the Carabinieri that deals exclusively with these checks, but the transport is hardly checked. And the customer threatens to become the victim of this, the risk of food poisoning is very real.
In the Netherlands, too, there is little insight into the hygienic conditions in the meal boxes, acknowledges Diane Bouhuijs, spokesperson for the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). “There are regular checks in restaurants and collection points, but not specifically of couriers. If an inspector carries out an inspection at a restaurant and there are couriers, he can take a look in that box, but a specific inspection has not yet taken place.”
Hygiene research
Bouhuijs says that the NVWA is currently conducting an investigation into the hygiene of food couriers. “The number of people having food delivered is growing rapidly and we think it is important that the food is transported in the right way. There is currently too little insight into that.” The outcome of the study is expected at the end of this year.
According to the rules of delivery companies such as Glovo, Uber Eats and Deliveroo, the responsibility for the hygiene of the meal boxes lies with the couriers themselves. They also have to pay for the cleaning products themselves. The future couriers are also made aware of this in the courses that the companies give. Gambero Rosso questions those courses, short and superficial, everything is rushed through in a few hours, including traffic rules and hygiene regulations.
Underpaid and stressed meal delivery boy
Moreover, the magazine wonders whether you should place the responsibility for hygiene with an underpaid and stressed meal delivery person. “How can you expect an employee to let work go to thoroughly clean the box?”
According to the Italian magazine, a solution could be to increase special staff who are exclusively concerned with cleaning and disinfecting the meal boxes. “Before the service, the courier collects the clean box and returns it at the end of the service.”
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