Privacy Policy

by Cheryl Whyte

Effective date: September 20, 2022

The Real Food Geek (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the https://therealfoodgeek.com website (hereinafter referred to as the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.

We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, the terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, accessible from https://therealfoodgeek.com.

Definitions

Service

Service is the https://therealfoodgeek.com website operated by The Real Food Geek.

Personal Data

Personal Data means data about a living individual who can be identified from those data (or from those and other information either in our possession or likely to come into our possession).

Usage Data

Usage Data is data collected automatically either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored on your device (computer or mobile device).

Data Controller

Data Controller means the natural or legal person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal information are, or are to be, processed. For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, we are a Data Controller of your Personal Data. You can contact us by post or email as follows:

Cheryl Whyte
The Real Food Geek
50 Champney Close
Hampshire
GU35 9DX
United Kingdom

Owner contact email: cheryl@therealfoodgeek.com

Data Processors (Or Service Providers)

Data Processor (or Service Provider) means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Data Controller. We may use the services of various Service Providers in order to process your data more effectively.

Data Subject (Or User)

Data Subject is any living individual who is using our Service and is the subject of Personal Data.

Information Collection & Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our service to you.

Types Of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Email address
  • First name and last name
  • Cookies and Usage Data

We may use your Personal Data to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or the instructions provided in any email we send.

Usage Data

We may also collect information on how the Service is accessed and used (“Usage Data”). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking and Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service, and we hold certain information.

Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Other tracking technologies are also used, such as beacons, tags, and scripts, to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

  • Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
  • Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
  • Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.
  • Advertising Cookies. Advertising Cookies are used to serve you with advertisements that may be relevant to you and your interests.

By clicking on the “Cookie Settings” button below, you will be able to manage your cookie preferences for this Service. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.



You can also instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Most browsers allow you to The methods of refusing to accept cookies and to delete cookies vary from browser to browser and from version to version. You can, however, obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);

(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);

(c) http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);

(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies(Internet Explorer);

(e) https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and

(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).

Use Of Data

The Real Food Geek uses the collected data for various purposes:

  • To provide and maintain our Service.
  • To notify you about changes to our Service.
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so.
  • To provide customer support.
  • To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Service.
  • To monitor the usage of our Service.
  • To detect, prevent and address technical issues.
  • To provide you with news, special offers, and general information about other goods, services, and events that we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless you have opted not to receive such information.

If you are from the European Economic Area (EEA), The Real Food Geek’s legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Policy depends on the Personal Data we collect and the specific context in which we collect it.

The Real Food Geek may process your Personal Data because:

  • We need to perform a contract with you
  • You have given us permission to do so
  • The processing is in our legitimate interests, and it is not overridden by your rights
  • To comply with the law

Retention Of Data

The Real Food Geek will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Real Food Geek will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Service, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer periods.

Transfer Of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside the United Kingdom and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to the United Kingdom and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

The Real Food Geek will take all the steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy, and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure Of Data

The Real Food Geek may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of The Real Food Geek
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

Security Of Data

The security of your data is important to us but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Your Data Protection Rights Under The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. The Real Food Geek aims to take reasonable steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete or limit the use of your Personal Data.

If you wish to be informed about what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

The right to access, update or delete the information we have on you.

  • The right of rectification. You have the right to have your information rectified if that information is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • The right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your Personal Data.
  • The right of restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • The right to data portability. You have the right to be provided with a copy of the information we have on you in a structured, machine-readable, and commonly used format.
  • The right to withdraw consent. You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where The Real Food Geek relied on your consent to process your personal information.

Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.

You have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority about our collection and use of your Personal Data. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service (“Service Providers”), provide the Service on our behalf, perform Service-related services or assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

Google Analytics – Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Jetpack (Automattic Inc.) – Jetpack is a plugin serviced by Automattic. This site uses the Jetpack plugin to enable Google Analytics and track and report web traffic. Jetpack sends page view events (and potentially video play events) over to Google Analytics for consumption.

This site has also enabled WordPress Stats via the Jetpack plugin. IP address, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), user agent, visiting URL, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language, and country code. Important: The site owner does not have access to any of this information via this feature. For example, a site owner can see that a specific post has 285 views, but he/she cannot see which specific users/accounts viewed that post. Stats logs — containing visitor IP addresses and WordPress.com usernames (if available) — are retained by Automattic for 28 days and are used for the sole purpose of powering this feature.

Activity Tracked: Post and page views, video plays (if videos are hosted by WordPress.com), outbound link clicks, referring URLs, and search engine terms and country. When this module is enabled, Jetpack also tracks performance on each page load that includes the Javascript file used for tracking stats. This is exclusively for aggregate performance tracking across Jetpack sites in order to make sure that our plugin and code are not causing performance issues. This includes the tracking of page load times and resource loading duration (image files, Javascript files, CSS files, etc.).

For more information on the privacy practices of Automattic, please visit the Automattic Privacy Policy here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

Subscribing To Newsletters & Post Updates

Mailerlite – On this site, you may subscribe to our newsletter should you choose to do so. By subscribing, you will be sent an email from the Real Food Geek to let you know when new recipes and other posts are available to view on this site. We use MailerLite as our marketing automation platform. By clicking to subscribe to any email subscribe forms, the information you provide will be transferred to MailerLite for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

To unsubscribe to our emails, please click on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of any email.

Comments

WordPress (Automattic Inc.) – This website is run using WordPress and its built-in system to manage comments.

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to save your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

If you have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Contact Forms

Contact 7 (Rock Lobster, LLC) – The contact forms on this site enable Users to get in touch with the Owner directly. This website uses the Contact 7 plugin to manage contact forms. By filling in the contact form with their Data, the User authorizes this Website to use these details to reply to requests for information or any other kind of request, as indicated by the form’s header. You will be asked to provide your email address and first name should you choose to do so. For information on the privacy practices of Contact 7, please visit their Privacy Policy here: https://contactform7.com/privacy-policy/.

In itself, the Contact 7 plugin does not: track users by stealth, write any user personal data to the database; send any data to external servers, or use cookies. However, for SPAM protection, we have integrated the services of Akismet, which does collect personal data in order to identify SPAM. Details below.

The contact form submission data is used — IP address, user agent, name, email address, website, and message — is submitted to the Akismet service (also owned by Automattic) for the sole purpose of spam checking. The actual submission data is stored in the database of the site on which it was submitted and is emailed directly to the owner of the form (i.e., the site author who published the page on which the contact form resides). This email will include the submitter’s IP address, timestamp, name, email address, website, and message.

Data Synced: Post and post metadata associated with a user’s contact form submission. If Akismet is enabled on the site, the IP address and user agent originally submitted with the comment are synced, as well, as they are stored in post meta.

Social Sharing

Jetpack (Automattic Inc.) – When official sharing buttons are active on the site, each button loads content directly from its service in order to display the button as well as information and tools for the sharing party. As a result, each service can, in turn, collect information about the sharing party. When a non-official Facebook or a Pinterest sharing button is active on the site, information such as the sharing party’s IP address as well as the page URL will be available for each service, so sharing counts can be displayed next to the button.

When sharing content via email, the following information is used: sharing party’s name and email address (if the user is logged in, this information will be pulled directly from their account), IP address (for spam checking), user agent (for spam checking), and email body/content. This content will be sent to Akismet (also owned by Automattic) so that a spam check can be performed.

Spam Protection

Akismet (Automattic Inc.) – Akismet is a SPAM protection service provided by Automattic Inc. This service analyzes the traffic of this Website, potentially containing Users’ Personal Data, with the purpose of filtering it from parts of traffic, messages, and content that are recognized as SPAM.

For more information on the privacy practices of Akismet, please visit the Akismet Privacy Policy here: https://akismet.com/privacy/.

Web Host & Platform Services

SITEGROUND (SiteGround Hosting Ltd.) – SiteGround is the hosting provider for The Real Food Geek website. This service has the purpose of hosting Data and files that enable this Website to run and be distributed, as well as to provide a ready-made infrastructure to run specific features or parts of this Website. For more information on the privacy practices of SiteGround, please visit the SiteGround Privacy Policy here: https://www.siteground.com/privacy.htm.

WordPress (Automattic Inc.) – WordPress is the service that provides a content management system that provides the tools to enable us to build and run this website. For more information on the privacy practices of Automattic, please visit the Automattic Privacy Policy here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

Site Back Up Management

Jetpack (Previously Vaultpress) (Automattic Inc.) – The purpose of this Jetpack service is to allow the Owner to save and manage backups of this Website on external servers managed by the service provider itself. The backups may include the source code and content as well as the data that the User provides to this Website. For more information on the privacy practices of Automattic, please visit the Automattic Privacy Policy here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

CookiePro (by OneTrust) – CookiePro is a service that enables this website to:

  • Automatically detect and categorize its cookies and other tracking technologies.
  • Display the cookie banner and the custom preference center that allows users to granularly select which types of cookies and tracking technologies they want to enable or disable.
  • Keep granular records of consent.
  • Display the required Cookie List as part of this privacy policy.

For more information on the privacy practices of CookiePro, please visit the CookiePro Privacy Policy here: https://www.cookiepro.com/privacy-notice/.

Sensitive Personal Information

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to this website. This would include your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade or union membership, health-related information, genetic and biometric data, your criminal background or sexual orientation. If you elect to share such sensitive information, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Embedded Content From Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Social Media

The Real Food Geek uses Social Media, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms to interact with our visitors. If you choose to participate in conversations with The Real Food Geek via any of these platforms, you have a direct relationship with them and agree to their terms of use.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

How “DOo Not Track” Requests Are Handled

This Website does not support “Do Not Track” requests. To determine whether any of the third-party services it uses honor the “Do Not Track” requests, please read their privacy policies.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service prior to the change becoming effective and update the “effective date” at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

Cheryl Whyte
The Real Food Geek
50 Champney Close
Hampshire
GU35 9DX
United Kingdom

Owner contact email: cheryl@therealfoodgeek.com