Legal · POPIA

Privacy Policy

Including what happens to the age, height and weight the calorie calculator asks for — which is health data, and is treated as such.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Responsible party: Howzit Healthy (Pty) Ltd, Boksburg, South Africa. Contact for privacy matters: howzit@howzithealthy.co.za.

The short version. We collect what we need to cook and deliver your food. The calculator's health data stays in your browser session unless you are logged in and press Save — and you can delete it from your account page with one button. We do not sell anything to anyone.

1. What we collect

DataWhyKept for
Name, email, mobile numberTo confirm your order and let the driver reach youWhile your account is open, then 5 years for tax records
Delivery address or collection pointTo physically deliver food to you5 years (SARS invoice requirement)
Order and payment historyOrder fulfilment, refunds, and legal record-keeping5 years
Age, height, weight, sex, activity levelTo calculate your calorie estimate. This is health-related personal information under POPIA.Browser session only, unless you are logged in and press Save
Saved calorie target and macrosSo you do not have to redo the calculator every orderUntil you delete it — one button on your account page
Suburb entered into the area checkerTo answer the question, and to decide which suburbs we expand toSession, unless you join a waitlist
Waitlist email and suburbTo tell you when we reach you or restock a flavourUntil you unsubscribe

2. The calculator, specifically

Age, height, weight and sex are special personal information in the sense that they describe your body. POPIA requires us to be deliberate about them, so:

  • Not logged in? Nothing is written to our database.

    The result lives in your PHP session — a server-side store tied to a cookie in your browser — and is discarded when the session expires or you clear the target.

  • Logged in? Only saved when you ask.

    Pressing Save writes one row to your profile: your inputs and the resulting target. Running the calculator while logged in also saves it, so that your next visit picks up where you left off.

  • Delete it any time.

    Your account page has a "Delete my saved health data" button. It removes every calorie profile row we hold for you, permanently, with no retention copy.

  • We never use it for marketing or profiling.

    It feeds the arithmetic on the results screen and the meal filter, and nothing else. It is not shared with advertisers, insurers or anyone else, ever.

The calorie output is a general estimate from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. It is not a medical assessment, we are not a healthcare provider, and no health professional reviews it.

3. Who we share it with

  • Payment gateways (PayFast, Yoco or Ozow) receive the amount and your order reference. We never see or store your full card number.
  • Our delivery drivers receive your name, address and mobile number, for the delivery day only.
  • Our email provider receives your email address to send order confirmations.
  • SARS and our accountants, where the law requires invoice records to be retained.
  • Nobody else. We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not run third-party advertising trackers on this site.

4. Cookies

One cookie, called howzit_session. It holds a session identifier so your cart, your calorie target and your login survive between pages. It is strictly necessary for the site to work, expires when you close your browser, and carries no advertising or cross-site tracking.

5. Your rights under POPIA

You may, at any time and free of charge:

  • — Ask what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy of it.
  • — Ask us to correct anything that is wrong.
  • — Ask us to delete information we no longer need — health data can be deleted immediately from your account page.
  • — Object to us processing your information for a given purpose.
  • — Withdraw marketing consent, with an unsubscribe link in every marketing email.
  • — Complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) if you think we have got it wrong.

Email howzit@howzithealthy.co.za with "POPIA request" in the subject line. We respond within 30 days.

6. How we protect it

Passwords are stored as one-way hashes and are never readable by us. Traffic is served over HTTPS. Database access is restricted to the application and to the two people who run it. If a breach ever affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

7. Children

This site is not intended for anyone under 18, and the calculator refuses inputs below 16. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.