Grocery & gourmet foods

Seller requirements
You must meet the following seller performance targets:

●​ Order defect rate: < 1%

●​ Pre-fulfillment cancel rate: < 2.5%
●​ Late shipment rate: < 4%

Product requirements
●​ Food must be properly prepared, packaged, sealed, and labeled.
●​ You must be licensed, or have approval from the relevant government agency for the
products you plan to sell.
●​ You must ensure your products and business operations comply with federal and state laws.
This includes laws not described in Amazon policies.
●​ Sell all Grocery & Gourmet Food products as new. You cannot list used products. See the
Condition guidelines.
●​ Food is viewed as date-sensitive. It must have an expiration date permanently marked on
every unit, unless the product is exempt. This includes every unit that is shipped, and every
unit displayed for sale.
●​ Keep the Fulfilment Center (FC) shelf life details up to date for grocery products. In the
inventory file template, set the value of the is_expiration_dated_product field to "true". The
FC shelf life is the length of time a product is sellable or fit to be eaten.
●​ Label in English all products covered by federal, state, and local laws. For federal labeling
policies, see the FDA Food Labeling and Nutrition, FDA Pet Food, and USDA Label Approval
web pages.
●​ Enclose and seal food in packaging suitable for shipping. It must keep food from
contamination, spoiling, melting, and damage.
●​ You must ship food with enough of its shelf life remaining. You must not remove or alter the
expiration date.
●​ When you sell products in multi-packs, the expiration date on the multi-pack packaging must
match the earliest expiration date of the products inside.
●​ You must list Grocery & Gourmet Food products using the manufacturer's UPC code. For
more information, see Product UPCs and GTINs. For information on listing products without
UPCs, see How to list products that do not have a Product ID (UPC, EAN, JAN or ISBN)
Product definitions
Expiration date

Amazon considers the "sell by," "use by," "best by", "best before," and "best if used by" date
to be the same as an expiration date. A product might be fit for consumption after those
dates, but buyers are likely to be concerned if they get a product showing a date that has
passed.

Food (or Food and Beverage)

Food, beverages, nutritional and dietary supplements, and non-prescription drugs for
human or pet consumption.

Bulk

Food that is custom packaged by a supplier into quantities other than those offered by the
original food manufacturer/processor that are then offered in unbranded packaging.

Both exposed foodstuffs, such as nuts, and wrapped foodstuffs, such as some candies, can
be considered "bulk" if repackaged from the original manufacturer quantities. Multi-packs
and supplier-created variety packs do not fall under the "bulk" designation.

Raw agricultural commodity

Foods supplied in the natural form in which they are grown.

This includes fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and similar agricultural products. It does not
include processed foods for cooking, freezing, dehydrating, or milling. Agricultural practices,
such as washing, stripping outer leaves, and waxing, are not counted as processing.

Product listing requirements

You must follow Amazon listing standards for any product sold on Amazon, and comply with
the standards for the Grocery & Gourmet Foods category. For more guidance, see the
Grocery Style Guide.

Any dietary or allergen-free claims (such as Organic, Kosher, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free) must
be shown on the product label, and must have received appropriate regulatory approvals.

Accurate Price Per Unit (PPU) data must be given for all new product listings. For more
information, see How to determine Price Per Unit.

The following product types have additional listing data standards:

●​ For seller-created multi-packs of a single item, sellers must follow the Grocery & Gourmet
guidelines for UPCs and IPQ for multi-packs.
●​ For all seller-created variety packs (meaning, not manufacturer-created) that don't fall under
the Custom Variety Packs of Single-Serve Hot Beverage Products policy:
○​ If the variety pack contains products from more than one brand, you must use the
approved brand name "Custom Variety Pack" instead of the brand name on any of
the individual units or any other custom brand name.
○​ You must fully specify in the detail page the contents of the variety pack on the
product listing page without any variability in the variety pack’s contents.
○​ You must state in the product bullets that the product is not a manufacturer-created
variety pack and will not be sent in the original manufacturer's packaging.
○​ When selling items in multi-packs, the expiration date on the outside packaging must
reflect the earliest expiration date of the individual products inside the multi-pack.
●​
●​ Seller-created bundles must comply with the general Product Bundling Policy.
●​ Amazon will only allow plant products that are:
○​ Permitted for sale and transport into all U.S. jurisdictions.
○​ Double-packaged and sealed so they do not attract pests.
○​ In compliance with Amazon internal standards that restrict the sale of certain
products. For information regarding restricted products, see Restricted products.
●​
●​ Examples of prohibited plant products:
○​ Plants, plant products, or seeds designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) as "noxious" or similarly classified by applicable state or local government
authorities, subject to USDA or applicable state or local government quarantines (for
example, the USDA’s citrus canker quarantine or the Washington State grape virus
quarantine) and Illegal plants, plant products or seeds.​
For more information, visit the USDA's Plant Protection and Quarantine
 program, the Federal and state noxious weed lists, and the National Plant
Board, which provides information on state plant regulations.

Food & Beverage

On this page
Organic products
Examples of permitted listings
Examples of prohibited listings
Shipping and labeling requirements
Examples of shipping and labeling requirements
Additional useful information
If you list products on Amazon, you must comply with all applicable laws, regulations,
standards, and our policies related to those products and product listings.

Organic products
Products that (1) claim to be organic, (2) claim to contain organic ingredients, or (3) use the
U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA") organic seal must comply with the USDA organic
regulations at 7 CFR Part 205. You are responsible for understanding and complying with all
requirements of the organic regulations, including production, certification and labeling
requirements. For more information, see Organic Products.

Shipping and labeling requirements

Each shipment of produce must have: (1) the name and address of the shipper or owner;
(2) the name of the person to whom the shipment is being sent; (3) the name of the country,
state, or territory where the contents were grown; and (4) a statement of the contents. State
and local governments may have additional requirements for both interstate and intrastate
shipment and labeling of certain produce.

Examples of shipping and labeling requirements

 ●​ Adhere to all FDA and USDA labeling guidelines
●​ Accuracy in country of origin labeling
●​ After an incoming shipment has met U.S. Customs and Border Protection and APHIS
requirements, the shipment must also be reinspected by USDA FSIS at an approved import
inspection facility

Organic Products
Important: If you supply products for sale on Amazon, you must comply with all federal, state, and
local laws and Amazon policies applicable to those products and product listings.

In the United States, use of the term “organic” is regulated by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (“USDA”). Any agricultural product that claims to be “organic” or uses the USDA
organic seal on its packaging must comply with the USDA organic regulations.

To be sold, labeled, or represented as “organic” in the United States, agricultural products

--- whether raw or processed --- must be certified to either the USDA organic regulations
or to an international standard that the USDA has named as equivalent. In either case,
the products must:

●​ Be produced according to the USDA organic requirements;

●​ Comply with organic labeling requirements; and
●​ Identify the name of the product’s certifier.

USDA’s organic regulations describe the specific standards required for you to use the word
“organic” or the USDA organic seal on food, feed, or fiber products. For more information on
the organic regulations and labeling requirements, please see the following websites.
Amazon provides these resources for informational purposes only. We encourage you to
consult with legal counsel if you have questions about the laws and regulations concerning
your products.

Related Amazon Help Pages

Restricted Products: Food & Beverage
Additional Useful Information
●​ USDA organic regulations, including the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances
●​ USDA National Organic Program, regulatory program responsible for overseeing organic
agricultural products
●​ Organic labeling standards
●​ Organic labeling fact sheet
●​ Importing organic products to the U.S.
●​ The Organic INTEGRITY Database, listing all USDA certified organic operations worldwide
●​ USDA-accredited certifying agents