Privacy Policy

At Venus Meats, we are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our website, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over it.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Give Us When You Place an Order

When you place a local order through our checkout, we collect:

1. Name: To identify you and your order
2. Email address: To send your order confirmation and updates about your order
3. Phone number: To contact you about payment, delivery and any questions on your order
4. Delivery address, town or city, and country: To work out your delivery fee and deliver to the right place
5. Delivery instructions: Any gate codes, landmarks or timing notes you choose to give us
6. Order notes: Any special requests or product preferences you add
7. Order details: The products, quantities and prices in your order, and any promotional code you used

1.2 Information You Give Us in an Export Inquiry

If you submit an export inquiry, we collect:

1. Company name and contact name: To identify the business making the inquiry
2. Email address and phone number: To send your quote and discuss your requirements
3. Destination country: To price shipping and check export requirements
4. Preferred delivery and payment methods: To prepare an accurate quote
5. Products and quantities requested, and any additional requirements: To quote for what you need

1.3 Payment Records

We do not take payments on this website. When you pay us directly and a member of our team records that payment against your order, we store the payment method you used, the transaction or reference number you quote, the amount and the date. We never ask for, receive or store your card details, your M-Pesa PIN, or your online banking credentials.

1.4 Information Collected Automatically

We do not use any analytics, advertising or visitor-tracking service on this website. We do not build profiles of visitors, and we do not track which pages you view or how long you spend on them. The only technical information recorded is:

1. Your IP address: Recorded for security purposes only — to apply rate limits that protect our forms from abuse, and in our security logs when a staff access link is requested
2. Standard web server logs: Kept by our hosting provider as a normal part of running the site, and used for security and troubleshooting

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

1. Order processing: To process, prepare and fulfil your orders
2. Quotations: To prepare and send quotes in response to your export inquiries
3. Communication: To send order confirmations, delivery fee and payment confirmations, order updates, and replies to your inquiries
4. Customer service: To provide support and resolve any issues with your order
5. Quality assurance: To review and improve our products and services
6. Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws and regulations in Kenya, including record-keeping obligations
7. Security and fraud prevention: To protect our website and our customers from abuse and fraudulent activity

3. Data Storage and Security

3.1 How We Store Your Data

Your information is stored in our application database on servers managed by our hosting provider. Access to that data is limited to authorised Venus Meats staff accounts, and staff accounts are restricted to the information each role needs. Information you send us through this website travels over an encrypted HTTPS connection.

3.2 Security Measures

The measures we have in place include:

1. Encrypted transmission: The site is served over HTTPS, so data in transit is encrypted
2. Restricted staff access: Our administrator and staff areas are separate, each limited to the records that role needs
3. Two-step staff sign-in: Signing in to a staff area requires a password and a single-use link sent to a registered work email address
4. A strict content security policy: The browser is instructed to load scripts, styles, fonts and images only from this site, which blocks third-party trackers and injected code
5. Rate limiting: Public forms and links limit how often they can be submitted, to prevent abuse
6. Input validation and CSRF protection: Every form is validated on the server and protected against cross-site request forgery
7. Protection against SQL injection and cross-site scripting: Database queries are parameterised and page output is escaped
8. Ongoing maintenance: We keep the application and its dependencies updated

No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we take these measures seriously and review them as the application changes.

3.3 Data Retention

We keep your customer, order and inquiry records for as long as they are needed for the purposes set out in this policy — while your relationship with us is active, and afterwards where we need them to meet legal, accounting or record-keeping obligations, to resolve disputes, or to enforce our agreements. When a record is deleted from our system it is first held for a limited recovery period and is then permanently erased. Records attached to a confirmed payment are kept longer, because we are required to retain financial records. If you would like your data deleted sooner, see section 5.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to anyone. We share it only in the following circumstances, and only to the extent needed:

1. Email delivery: Our emails to you are sent through Brevo, a transactional email provider, which processes your email address and the contents of the message in order to deliver it
2. Website hosting: Our hosting provider stores and serves the website and its database on our behalf
3. Delivery providers: Where an order is delivered by a third-party courier, we pass on only the name, phone number, address and delivery instructions needed to complete that delivery
4. Legal requirements: Where we are required to disclose information by law, a court order, or a lawful request from a government or regulatory authority
5. Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case we will take steps to ensure your information continues to be protected

We use no online payment gateway. Payments are made directly to us by M-Pesa, bank transfer, cheque or cash, so no payment card or mobile money credentials are ever entered on this website or passed to a payment processor by us.

5. Your Rights Under the Kenya Data Protection Act

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, you have the following rights:

1. Right to be informed: To know how your personal data is being used — which is the purpose of this policy
2. Right of access: To request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
3. Right to correction: To have inaccurate, misleading or incomplete data corrected
4. Right to deletion: To request deletion of your personal data, subject to any legal obligation we have to retain it
5. Right to object: To object to the processing of all or part of your personal data
6. Right to data portability: To request your data in a structured, commonly used format
7. Right to withdraw consent: To withdraw consent for non-essential communications at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@venusmeats.co.ke. We may need to verify your identity before we act on a request.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully.

6. Cookies and Local Storage

This website uses only what it needs to work. Specifically:

1. An essential session cookie: Set by our server to maintain your session and to protect our forms against cross-site request forgery. It cannot be read by scripts and is not used to track you
2. Your shopping cart: Kept in your browser's local storage, not on our servers, so your cart survives between visits on the same device and browser
3. No tracking cookies: We set no analytics, advertising or social media cookies, and load no third-party scripts — our content security policy blocks them outright

You can clear your browser's cookies and local storage at any time through your browser settings. Doing so will empty your shopping cart.

7. Email Communications

When you give us your email address, we use it to send:

1. Order confirmation: Acknowledging that we have received your order, with your order number and the details you submitted
2. Delivery fee confirmation: If you requested delivery, the fee for your location once our team has reviewed it
3. Payment confirmation: Once a member of our team has recorded your payment against your order
4. Order updates: Changes to your order status and delivery
5. Export inquiry confirmation and quotes: Acknowledgement of your inquiry, your quote, and any revised quote
6. Self-service update links: A secure, single-purpose link that lets you update your own order or inquiry details. The link is unique to you and expires — please do not forward it
7. Customer service: Replies to your questions
8. Occasional promotional codes: Sent individually by a member of our team, never as a bulk mailing

We do not operate a marketing mailing list and we do not add you to one. If you would prefer not to receive promotional emails from us, simply tell us and we will stop — we will still send the transactional emails needed to handle your orders.

8. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately so we can delete it.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

10. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Kenya, including the Data Protection Act, 2019. Any disputes arising from this policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Kenya.

11. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Your Consent

By using our website and placing orders, you consent to the collection, use, and processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our services.