Your data: export, delete and retention
Last updated: 30 August 2026
This page is the plain-English companion to our Privacy Notice. It tells you exactly how long Pantry Forge keeps each kind of data — especially your ingredient photos, recipes and Healthy Hints — and how to get a copy of it or erase it.
How long we keep each thing
| Data | Retention | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredient photographs | Deleted within 24 hours | Photos are analysed to identify ingredients, then removed. Only the plain-text list of detected ingredients is kept with the recipe. Photos are never used to train AI models. |
| Detected ingredient lists | Until you delete the recipe | Stored as text alongside the recipe that was generated from them. |
| Saved recipes, steps and cooking notes | Until you delete them, or 30 days after account closure | Deleting a recipe in the app removes it immediately and permanently. |
| Healthy Hints and holistic kitchen notes | Stored with the recipe they belong to | Hints are generated from the health conditions on your profile at the time. Deleting the recipe deletes its hints. |
| Health conditions and allergy notes | Until you clear them, or immediately on account deletion | This is sensitive health data, kept only on the basis of your consent. Clearing your health profile removes it at once and stops future hints from using it. |
| Weekly menus, shopping lists and cook log | 12 months rolling, or until account closure | Older weeks are purged automatically so your history stays relevant. |
| Progress share cards and their public links | Until you delete the share | Deleting a snapshot immediately breaks its public link. Anonymous shares never contain your name or referral code. |
| Account, membership and referral records | 7 years | Retained after closure only as far as tax, accounting and anti-fraud law requires, then deleted. Payment records are held by Paddle, our Merchant of Record. |
| Security, error and delivery logs | 90 days | Used to investigate crashes, abuse and failed billing events, then automatically purged. |
A note on ingredient photos
Your kitchen photos are the most personal thing you give us, so we treat them as throwaway working data. A photo is uploaded, read by the AI model that identifies ingredients, and discarded within 24 hours. We do not build a photo library, we do not use your photos to train models, and no other member can ever see them.
A note on Healthy Hints
Healthy Hints and Holistic Kitchen notes are cooking guidance, never medical advice or treatment. They are produced from the conditions and allergy notes you chose to enter, and they live inside the recipe record — so deleting a recipe deletes its hints, and clearing your health profile stops new hints from being tailored at all. Withdrawing that consent never removes your access to the rest of the app.
Export a copy of your data
Signed-in members can download everything the app holds about them — profile, health preferences, recipes with their Healthy Hints, weekly menus, shopping lists, cook log, referrals and credit, and membership history — as a machine-readable JSON file, plus CSV exports for recipes and nutrition. Open Account → Privacy & data → Export my data in the app. Exports are generated on demand and are not stored on our servers.
If you cannot sign in, email us from the address on your account and we will send your export within one month.
Delete your data or your whole account
- One recipe or share: delete it in the app — removal is immediate and permanent.
- Health data only: clear your conditions and allergy notes in your health profile. Everything else stays.
- Everything: use Account → Privacy & data → Delete my account. We erase your profile, recipes, hints, menus, shares and preferences within 30 days, and any remaining ingredient photos immediately.
Two things survive deletion, and only because the law requires it: billing and tax records held for seven years, and a minimal anti-fraud record of referral credit that was paid out. Neither contains your recipes, photos or health data.
Deleting your account does not automatically cancel a live membership — cancel it first in Membership, or contact us and we will handle both together.
Your other rights
You can also ask us to correct inaccurate data, restrict or object to processing, or withdraw consent for health-tailored hints at any time. We answer every request within one month, free of charge. If you are in the UK or EEA and you are unhappy with our response, you can complain to your local data protection supervisory authority.
To make any request, use the support link in the app or reply to any Pantry Forge email.