Major Quick Commerce Representatives Will Meet With FSSAI Regarding Expiration Date Violations

According to various media reports, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will meet with important representatives from the main rapid commerce platforms, such as Blinkit, Swiggy, Instamart, and Zepto, within the next ten days.

Reports further state that the main goal of the discussion is to address the grave concerns about the sale of consumer goods, particularly packaged food items, that are getting close to expiration dates on these online platforms.

Consumer Forums and Trade Bodies Urging Regulator to Step In

Numerous consumer forums and trade organisations have been advocating for the Union government to take action against e-commerce and quick commerce companies for failing to provide mandatory disclosures, including the expiration and best-before dates of groceries and other daily essentials sold on their platforms.

Additionally, they have urged the government to look at how fast-moving consumer goods companies are abusing these channels by selling products that are about to expire. Although the original shelf life was substantially greater, consumers have complained that these convenience platforms are delivering products with significantly shorter shelf lives.

According to Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, an independent community platform that conducted a survey with 12,000 people nationwide, at least 57% of respondents are worried about online businesses failing to display their best before dates. The results of the survey were forwarded to the FSSAI and the Department of Consumer Affairs last month.

A packet of bread, which usually has a five- to seven-day shelf life, was sent to certain customers with just one day remaining before it expired. According to Taparia, customers who bought other perishable goods noticed similar issues.

Violation of the Food Safety and Standards Amendment Regulations of 2020

The Food Safety and Standards Amendment Regulations of 2020, which require platforms and sellers to offer only food items with a minimum shelf life of 30% or at least 45 days left for sale, are allegedly being disregarded by these quick service organisations.

In order to stop the sale of products that are about to expire, the food regulator will also meet with state food safety commissioners this week and give them instructions to scrutinise e-commerce and quick-commerce businesses more closely. Officials say they will probably be told to perform unexpected on-site inspections to make sure that these online platforms' warehouses and dark stores don't include goods with less than 30% of their shelf life left.

For various reasons, the Competition Commission of India and the Central Consumer Protection Authority, which is housed under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, have also begun to examine the fast delivery behemoths.

The All-India Consumer Products Distributors Federation had previously urged the ministry to enact stronger rules in order to stop these kinds of abuses. They assert that the packaged goods business is increasingly using the quick commerce platforms as a means of pushing unsold inventory. The federation had issued a statement stating that "this practice, often disguised by steep discounts, poses a significant risk to consumer rights and threatens the stability of traditional retailers."

Among the businesses that do not provide best-before dates in their product photos or descriptions are Swiggy, Instamart, Zomato's Blinkit, and Zepto. By displaying the production and expiration dates of the packaged items offered on its website, Flipkart Minutes, on the other hand, distinguishes itself as the only platform that offers transparency.

Zomato is Already Under Scanner

Food safety officials in Telangana recently discovered 18 kg of button mushrooms classified as packed on October 30 during a raid at Zomato's Hyperpure warehouse. The inspection was conducted on October 29.

However, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal asserted that the warehouse crew had already spotted these mushrooms and "were rejected during an inward" quality check, with a future packaging date at the company's Hyderabad plant." This is unusual and was caused by a vendor-side manual typing error. However, Goyal had stated on X, "The concerned vendor has been delisted from our database."

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StartupTalkyNitin Konde