FSSAI Issues Food Safety Norms For Ecommerce & Foodtech Platforms

Amid a surge in complaints related to food products sold online, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a detailed advisory outlining new safety mandates for foodtech platforms. 

The advisory, issued on Tuesday (December 3), directs food delivery and quick commerce platforms to comply with five new measures to ensure consumer safety and product integrity. 

Firstly, the food safety body has directed foodtech platforms to prioritise the training of last-mile delivery executives in food safety and hygiene practices. The FSSAI has also directed the platforms to ensure that food and non-food items are delivered separately to avoid the risk of cross-contamination, thereby, safeguarding consumer health.

“One of the critical needs for ecommerce FBOs (food business operators) is to prioritise the training of the last-mile delivery personnel… This training should cover safe handling and transportation of food to prevent contamination, as well as personal hygiene and proper sanitisation procedures,” the advisory said. 

It has also barred foodtech platforms from listing any seller on their platform without displaying their FSSAI licence or registration numbers. 

The FSSAI has also said that claims made by quick commerce platforms should “fully align” with the information on the product’s physical label, adding that unsubstantiated claims should not appear on their sites. 

The food safety organisation has also warned of “regulatory action” against online marketplaces that indulge in “misleading or unsupported claims”. This is largely in line with the government’s labelling and display regulations of 2020, which bar companies from unsubstantiated claims. 

“To maintain consumer confidence, it is also necessary to ensure that food products being delivered have sufficient remaining shelf life. FSSAI mandates that products must have a minimum shelf life of 30% or at least 45 days before expiry, at the time of delivery,” the advisory added.

The new guidelines also direct online marketplaces to prominently display hygiene ratings obtained by them. This, the FSSAI said, would spur customer trust and allow users to make more “informed purchasing decisions”.

The new norms come a month after reports emerged that an FSSAI team allegedly found 90 packets of button mushrooms labelled with a “future packing date” during a food safety raid at Zomato’s Hyperpure warehouse in Hyderabad.

As furore erupted online over the fracas, the foodtech major put the onus on the seller saying that the incorrect packing date was a manual typing error on the vendor’s part. 

Earlier, in June, Telangana’s food safety department raided a warehouse of Zomato-owned Blinkit in the state and found the premises to be “disorganised, unhygienic and dusty”. In the same month, a Mumbai customer reportedly found a human finger in the ice-cream ordered from quick commerce major Zepto. 

Such has been the clamour for action against foodtech giants that the FSSAI, last month, held a meeting with the executives of ecommerce and quick commerce platforms to formulate rigorous food safety norms for the online ecosystem.