Comply With Food Safety Norms Or Face Action: FSSAI To Ecommerce Platforms

Amid the rising cases of food safety violations at the stores of ecommerce platforms, especially quick commerce players, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has warned the industry stakeholders that there would be no compromise with food safety norms.

FSSAI CEO Kamala Vardhana Rao met over 70 representatives of ecommerce platforms yesterday to discuss the importance of following food safety protocols at a time when the ecommerce sector is expanding rapidly, the food safety body said in a statement. 

Rao said that non-compliance with food safety protocols may lead to severe action.

During the deliberations, the CEO directed the ecommerce entities to prominently display their FSSAI licence/ registration numbers on every receipt, invoice, and cash memo provided to consumers. They were also asked to display information regarding the Food Safety Connect app on all consumer-facing documents.

Notably, the app allows consumers to share their concerns, know their rights, track food business operators’ license/ registration certificate authenticity, view articles/ videos on food safety, and more.

During the meeting, the ecommerce platforms were asked to maintain strict compliance with hygiene and food safety standards at all of their warehouses and storage facilities, and to upload photographs at regular intervals on the food safety compliance system, or the FoSCoS portal.

Additionally, possibilities of displaying the expiry and best before dates for food products was also discussed.

This comes at a time when the dark stores of quick commerce platforms have come under the scanner for flouting food safety norms. Last month, the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) in Maharashtra suspended the food business licence of Blinkit’s dark store in Pune’s Balewadi. Prior to that, Zepto also saw a raid on one of its stores in Mumbai. 

Amid the rising competition in the quick commerce space, players are aggressively expanding their dark store network. To meet the demand, the quick commerce companies often stock up products in bulk. However, the aforementioned instances have shown how this may lead to food hygiene issues. As such, the FSSAI chief’s warning is a reminder to the players to follow the food safety norms even as they expand their operations.