The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended 14 food business licences linked to major quick-commerce platforms including Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart after conducting inspections at 86 establishments involved in online food storage and delivery. According to the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), the FDA found deficiencies related to food storage, temperature control, cleanliness, pest control, worker hygiene and food handling. The action comes after a viral video allegedly showed a live rat inside an ice-cream storage crate at a Blinkit outlet in Kalyan's Godrej Hill area, raising broader questions about pest control, sanitation and preventive food-safety systems. AICPDF National President Dhairyashil H. Patil stated that "Consumers should not have to become food inspectors checking dates, packaging and storage conditions."
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a comprehensive raid on Parle Agro's Velocity Express warehouse in the Vashi Naka area of Chembur, seizing expired stock worth over ₹1 lakh. According to reports, the seized consignment included expired batches of Appy Fizz, Frooti and Candy Juice, all of which were prohibited from further sale or transport following the inspection. The raid was carried out overnight with eight FDA officials involved in the operation, with the inspection beginning around 6 pm on August 13 and continuing until 5 a.m. on August 14. The warehouse is located at Prayag Nagar on LU Gadkari Marg in Chembur's Washinaka locality.
Officials sealed the warehouse after the seizure and impounded two vehicles that were being used to transport the products. As reported by authorities, no food items would be permitted to be sold or moved out of the premises until further orders are issued. The FDA has suspended the licence of the premises as part of the enforcement action, effectively halting all operations at the facility. The action against the Parle Agro warehouse forms part of an intensifying food safety crackdown by the FDA across Mumbai, with inspections being carried out at restaurants and stockhouses in the city.
The action against the Parle Agro warehouse forms part of an intensifying food safety crackdown by the FDA across Mumbai, with inspections being carried out at restaurants and stockhouses in the city. According to reports, just two days earlier on August 12, the FDA had suspended the food business licences of four Domino's Pizza outlets, including three in Mumbai, over alleged violations of food safety and hygiene norms. These outlets, run by Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, were located in Vile Parle West, Borivali West and R-City Mall in Ghatkopar West, with a fourth outlet in Satara district. The latest crackdown on quick-commerce platforms has revealed additional violations including hygiene deficiencies and cockroach infestation at a Blinkit dark store in Malad West, alleged licensing and storage deficiencies at a Blinkit-associated facility in Pune, and reported fungal growth, inadequate cold-storage temperature and expired food at a Zepto facility in Dharavi.
The AICPDF has called for comprehensive nationwide inspections of quick-commerce dark stores and mandatory verification of licences, pest-control systems, refrigeration and temperature records, product expiry dates, worker hygiene and food-handling practices. The federation has proposed a scientific SKU-to-space ratio framework for dark stores, arguing that facilities storing thousands of products need adequate physical space for segregation, movement, temperature management and hygiene. Its proposed methodology states that minimum floor area should be equal to the number of SKUs multiplied by 0.35-0.40 sq. ft., translating to approximately 23,000-26,000 sq. ft. of floor area for a dark store handling around 65,000 SKUs. The federation seeks a uniform national standard operating procedure for food safety across quick-commerce warehouses and dark stores, along with greater accountability for platforms and third-party operators, stating "Same product. Same consumer. Same food-safety law. Same accountability."
