Privacy Policy

Last Updated: Sep. 23rd, 2023

Authentic Food Quest found at: https://authenticfoodquest.com/ (“Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

Information You Voluntarily Submit to this Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to this Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, or submitting a contact form. In addition, you are able to create a user profile, which allows you to create a username and password. We will store the username, but your password will not be visible in our records.

Information We Collect from Others: We may receive information about you from other sources.  You may link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile.  If you choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile, we will receive your name, email address and profile picture associated with that account.  this Website utilizes the Facebook commenting system, so if you choose to comment on a Website post, your profile picture will appear.

Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access this Website. For example, when you use this Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed this Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using this Website, such as links clicked.

Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by this Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on this Website.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use the information collected in the following ways:

  • To operate and maintain this Website;
  • To create your account, identify you as a user of this Website, and customize this Website for your account;
  • To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
  • To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
  • To respond to your comments or inquiries;
  • To provide you with user support;
  • To track and measure advertising on this Website;
  • To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.

Additionally, this Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of this Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

This Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:

Google Analytics – When someone visits this Website we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behavior patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsCookies 

You can find out more about how Google protects your data https://policies.google.com/privacy 

You can prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our website by downloading and installing the browser plugin available via this https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout 

Mail Chimp – this service is used for delivery of email updates and newsletters. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering such communications.  Please refer to Mail Chimp’s privacy policy for further information.

PayPal (PayPal Inc.)  – this service is used for making online payments to this Website. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering the digital products you ordered.  Please refer to PayPal’s privacy policy for further information.

At this time, your personal information is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time in this Website’s sole discretion.

Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through this Website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.

HANDLING PAYMENTS

Payment processing services enable this Website to process payments by credit card, bank transfer or other means. To ensure greater security, this Website shares only the information necessary to execute the transaction with the financial intermediaries handling the transaction.

Some of these services may also enable the sending of timed messages to the User, such as emails containing invoices or notifications concerning the payment.

PayPal (PayPal Inc.) – PayPal is a payment service provided by PayPal Inc., which allows Users to make online payments.

Personal Data collected: various types of Data as specified in the privacy policy of the service. 

Place of processing: See the PayPal privacy policy.

ANONYMOUS DATA

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

PUBLICLY VISIBLE INFORMATION

If you create a user profile on this Website or leave a comment, certain information may be publicly visible.  To create a user profile, you must choose a username and password and input your email address for profile confirmation.  Your email address will never be available publicly. At your option, you may also add an avatar, a profile description, and a link to your website. You may also choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and Google Account. Users may see your username, avatar, profile description and website information.

COOKIES

This Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein.

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by this Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

ADVERTISING

This Site is affiliated with CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a Raptive (“Raptive”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and Raptove will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about Raptive’s data usage, click here raptive.com/creator-advertising-privacy-statement/

We publish interest-based advertisements on the Site; that is, ads that are tailored to reflect your interests. To help understand your interests, Raptive, Google and our other advertising partners will track your behaviour on our website and on other websites across the Internet using cookies.  

By using this Site, you consent to the use of such cookies and the sharing of data captured by such cookies with Raptive, Google, and our other third party partners.

You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting:  https://adssettings.google.com  

You can also opt out of the network cookie using those settings or using the Network Advertising Initiative’s multi-cookie opt-out mechanism at: http://optout.networkadvertising.org  

However, these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser your opt-out will not be maintained.

For European Economic Area Residents

If you reside in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), then under the GDPR and applicable data protection laws you have the rights, among other things, to access your personal data, have us erase it, and/or restrict its further processing.  If you wish to access or delete your personal data (if any) maintained by us or Raptive related to advertising on the Site, you can contact us at [email protected] and contact Raptive at [email protected]. If you wish to see a list of the advertising partners we work with or change which of those partners track your behavior using cookies, click the ad preferences link at the bottom of the site. (Available in the E.U.)

For California Residents

California law gives residents the right to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information to third parties, including for advertising purposes. Under California law, the sharing of your information with a service provider for advertising purposes could be considered a “sale.” To opt out of the sharing of your information for advertising information, click the opt out link provided in the footer of this page. You also have the right to request from us the categories of personal information that we have shared and the categories of third parties to whom the information was provided. To make such a request, please contact us at [email protected] To be clear we do not share your name, contact information, or any other sensitive information with third parties, and the categories of third parties that we share information with for advertising purposes are supply side platforms, programmatic advertising exchanges, and demand side platforms.

Retargeting Ads

From time to time, this Website may engage in re-marketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market this Website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to this Website.

Affiliate Program Participation

this Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into this Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

Authentic Food Quest is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com.  As part of this Amazon Associates program, this Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.

Newsletters

On this Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows this Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also notify us at [email protected] to be removed from our mailing list.

Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request to [email protected]

Amend – You may contact us at [email protected] to amend or update your personal information.

Forget – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to [email protected].

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to this Website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

This Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that this Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

CONTACT INFORMATION

At any time, please contact us at [email protected] for questions related to this Privacy Policy.