Instacart considers food safety and quality a top priority. We encourage shoppers to understand how to make sure your items are properly picked and maintained at all stages of the shopping process.

Shopper best practices—

Instacart offers guidance and resources for shoppers to safely handle and transport items with an interactive series. A Food Safety Walkthrough as well as a Shopper Food Safety Requirements and Best Practices guidelines provide examples for best practices when shopping and delivering on the Instacart platform. 

Picking and delivering—

Instacart encourages shoppers to look for the freshest possible items and pay special attention to expiration dates, broken seals, and the quality of fresh produce. We ask that they bag raw meats or products with chemicals separately to prevent cross-contamination.

Temperature control—

When shopping for orders made in advance, we ask shoppers to make sure that they keep all temperature-sensitive items in fridges and freezers at the store until the driver arrives. We also ask shoppers and drivers to use insulated bags and coolers to make sure your items stay at the correct temperature while in transit from the store to you.

Product recalls

Instacart monitors regulatory announcements related to food and product recalls. We engage customers directly who may have previously purchased potentially impacted products, so we can provide them safety information.

If you have questions about a food or product recall including replacement, repair, or refund options refer to the applicable product recall announcement published by the regulatory authority below—

Product safety

Instacart always strives to provide the safest, most efficient service for customers—from pickup to delivery. Should you ever receive a damaged product, contact Instacart Customer Experience within 24 hours so we may help with the best possible solution.