Guidelines for Food & Beverages
Selling grocery products on Amazon
To send food and beverage products to be fulfilled through FBA, you must first verify that you fulfill all the requirements to sell in the Grocery category.
Food and food products are subject to many regulations in the EU. EU food regulations in particular aim at establishing and controlling high quality standards for food and food product hygiene, animal health and welfare, plant health, and preventing the risk of contamination from external substances. EU food regulations include, among other, the following:
- Specifying rules on appropriate labeling for food products. Often, product labeling is required to be in the language of the EU member state where the product is sold.
- Establishing mandatory refund and recycling schemes for beverage packaging in several EU member states.
For more information about food safety regulations in the EU and Amazon's individual European marketplaces, see the following links:
- EU:
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UK:
- Food Standards Agency (only available in English)
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Germany:
- Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture: Food Safety (only available in English and German)
- Federation for Food Regulation and Nutritional Science - Labeling and Packaging Requirements (only available in English and German)
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France:
- French Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health & Safety (only available in English and French)
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Italy:
- Ministry of Health - Food Health & Safety (only available in Italian)
- Spain:
FBA product restrictions
- Items must comply with the EU food safety & labelling requirements, and in particular with specific requirements for the Netherlands as well as your country of storage.
Preparing products with expiration dates
Before you send in any perishable items with an expiration date to an Amazon fulfillment center, you must:
- Flag the ASINs in Seller Central with the "is-expiration-dated-product" attribute.
- Label each unit before sending the shipment.
All Grocery sellers must:
- Label each individual unit with an FBA product label.
- Place the FBA labels on top of the original barcode.
- Ensure the expiration date isn't covered by the label. In case the expiration date is covered, print the expiration date and place it on the product.
- Ensure the expiration date is readable on the box, or packaging for bundles, sets, and baskets.
Packaging requirements
There are specific requirements for sellers sending liquids and glass products.
Once units are packaged and labeled, sellers must add FBA shipment labels to the outer package as with any regular FBA shipment. Also, packages must be clearly marked as "food."
Organic certification
Organic products first made available in the UK on or before December 31, 2020 must carry a valid, in-date organic certification in accordance with the EU directive 834/2007. Products that are first made available in the EU or UK on or before December 31, 2020 can continue to circulate until they reach their end user and do not need to comply with the changes that take effect from January 1, 2021. You can retain evidence of when products were first made available in the EU or UK by keeping documents including contracts of sale.
Organic products first made available in Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) after December 31, 2020 will no longer be able rely on the EU certification, and you must be certified by an approved UK organic control body.
To sell organic products in NI after the end of the Brexit transition period, and while the Northern Ireland Protocol is in force, you should ensure that your products continue to meet EU requirements – carry a valid, in-date organic certification in accordance with the EU directive 834/2007.
In all cases, you must also adhere to the following product listing guidelines:
- The item_name attribute (in the inventory file template or in the Add a Product tool) must include the word "Organic".
- The specialty attribute (in the inventory file template or in the Add a Product tool) must be set to "Organic".
- Each product must be listed on the delivery note individually with its respective quantity clearly indicated.
- Delivery notes must be labeled in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
- All shipments of organic products to an Amazon fulfillment center must be sent from an EU country.
To learn more about certification requirements for organic products or to request permission to sell organic food, see Organic Food, Organic Feed and Organic Pet Food.
Customer return policy
Customers are able to return food and beverage products as per the terms of the Amazon Business Agreement. If the returned products are in pristine condition and still within the minimum remaining shelf life of 105 days, they will simply go back on sale. However, if the product is damaged, it will be marked as "unfulfillable" in your FBA inventory. Then, you can create a removal order for the product to be returned to you or disposed of at the fulfillment center at your own expense for a per-unit fee.
Delivery notes
- Food products can only be delivered to our fulfillment centers in Leipzig, Koblenz, and Graben.
- Deliveries containing food must be clearly marked as "food" on the outer packaging.
- Food and non-food items (including personal care and hygiene items) must not be delivered together on a pallet.
- The product temperature at delivery must not exceed 30°C.
- Single-use deposit containers are not allowed. For reusable containers, please note that we cannot process container deposit refunds, so do not offer this on your product's detail page.
Please note that we may particularly refuse shipments in the following cases:
- Leaking liquid or other leaking substance
- Visible damage on the packaging
- Damaged seal
- Bad or foul smell
- Signs of pest or insect infestation
- Contaminated packaging
Guidelines for Food & Beverages
