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This article applies to selling in: France

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. For more information, visit thispage.

Sellers are solely responsible for the quality, compliance, and safety of their products. Sellers must:

  • Have personnel familiar with the quality and safety requirements of food products
  • Have monitoring and management procedures in place to ensure the quality, compliance, and safety of their products
  • Have the capability to manage non-compliant products and/or dangerous products (e.g., risk analysis, blocking procedures, product retention, etc.)
  • Be able to trace their products by batch
  • Immediately inform Amazon of security problems for products that may create a risk for customers
  • Communicate immediately to the competent authorities and to Amazon about the quality, compliance, and safety of their products in the event of a safety problem or request from one of the authorities
  • Have fulfilled all the legal requirements for selling food products in the countries where they are planned to sell

Third-party sellers are responsible for classifying their products in the Groceries category on Amazon.

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:

FBA product restrictions

  • Products must not contain ingredients, additives, etc. which are not authorized in the European Union or that have never been consumed in the European Union.
  • Only food products in the categories or list of products covered by the browse tree node Nutrition and Dietary in the Groceries category can be sold through the FBA program. These products include vitamins, food supplements, teas, coffees, salts, peppers, spices, energy drinks/ sports drinks (liquid or powder), nutritional and dietary bars, nutritional drinks, and cocktail shakers.
  • All items must be labeled in French. Labels must not contain any information, affirmation, image, sign, representation, symbol, design, etc., which might suggest the customer that the product can prevent, treat, or cure human disease.
  • Products must have been produced in the European Union or the United States.
  • Temperature-sensitive products must be able to withstand a minimum temperature of 10°C and a maximum temperature of 30°C for the duration of the product’s shelf life without adversely affecting product quality. Carton markings must not include storage temperature requirements unless expressed explicitly as a range from 10°C to 30°C.
  • Items consisting of or containing chocolate or other ingredients which may melt will be rejected if delivered between May 1 and October 15.
  • Expiration-dated products are allowed for FBA as long as the perishable food and beverage items have a minimum remaining shelf life of 90 days at the point of receipt into the fulfillment center. Units that are within 50 days of the expiration date are prohibited from being sold on Amazon.
  • All expiration dates must be the same across a single SKU in the same FBA inbound shipment.
  • All products containing alcohol are prohibited from FBA.

Preparing products with expiration dates

Before you send in any perishable items with an expiration date to an Amazon fulfillment center, you must:

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.
Note: You can opt for Amazon's Label Service, where we label your products at the fulfillment center for a per-unit fee.

If a product is not sold 50 days before its expiration date, it will be marked as "unsellable". From that date, the seller has a period of three months to apply for a removal order, otherwise the product will be disposed of by Amazon at the seller's expense.

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.

Delivery notes

  • Food products can only be delivered to our fulfillment center in Chalon-sur-Saône (LYS1).
  • The product temperature at delivery must not exceed 30°C.

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
Important: Amazon reserves the right to refuse or dispose of any shipment or inventory if any food units are not sent in accordance with our Business Solutions Agreement or the guidelines. Amazon reserves the right to dispose of your products without reimbursement to you.

Guidelines for Food & Beverages


Guidelines for Food & Beverages


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