3 Jul 2024
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials have been conducting surprise audits on all dark stores and some direct-to-consumer food brands for the past few weeks.
Prompted by the recent lapses in food hygiene, FSSAI started surprise audits for leading quick commerce (Q-Commerce) brands across India. Thus, brands are forced to exert more hygiene measures and extra caution in adopting new, smaller brands on their platforms.
The recent series of contamination with food products delivered by Q-Commerce apps caught the attention of food safety regulators nationwide. The Telangana Commissioner of Food Safety found severe violations related to hygiene and storage conditions at Blinkit warehouses near Hyderabad and its Faridabad dark store, where allegedly medicines were being illegally sold. This triggered checks with other brand warehouses everywhere.
The delivery platforms argue that many issues happen at the manufacturing level that affect product quality. Manufacturers highlight that product handling significantly impacts the condition at the time of delivery, ultimately ruining the manufacturer’s brand image.
Q-Commerce brands are stepping up recall and delisting policies for repeated offenders.