After several hygiene lapses came into account in the last couple of weeks, the government has increased its scrutiny of the dark stores of quick commerce platforms, as per a report by the Economic Times. This is specifically for packaged food.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) also made surprise visits to leading direct-to-consumer food brands, according to the report. Along with adding small-scale, new-age brands to the platforms, Quick Commerce is also focusing more on hygiene.
“These audits are being done to ensure quality control at all dark stores,” said an FSSAI official while speaking to the Economic Times.
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The Commission of Food Safety, Telangana, recently raided Blinkit's warehouse in Telangana's Medchal Malkajgiri district. Taking to X, the commission said that several safety measures were violated by the Quick Commerce platform.
The commission pointed out that the premises were discovered to be extremely disorganized, unhygienic, and dusty, especially around the storage racks. Additionally, the commission noted the absence of a Food Safety Training and Certification (Fostac) trainee and that food handlers were working without headgear, gloves, or aprons. After the violations were found, the food safety commission reportedly checked the dark stores of other quick commerce platforms as well.
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Another incident was when a Mumbai man found a severed thumb in an ice cream that was ordered via Zepto. Speaking to the Economic Times, a quick commerce executive said, “What happened with the ice cream was at the manufacturing level. Platforms really can’t do much. We don’t open food packets to see what’s inside.”
Meanwhile, large food manufacturers have expressed concerns about handling and storing packages in dark stores. As per the report, a senior executive said that if a customer receives defective goods, she won't be able to tell the difference between the delivery platform and the brand. The brand's reputation ultimately suffers.
