Why Maharashtra FDA suspended Zepto's food business license

Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 1 suspended the food business license of E-commerce platform Zepto. This comes a day after an inspection was conducted at the Dharavi facility which uncovered serious violations of the FDA’s prescribed guidelines.

 

Users trying to avail services from the Dharavi facility are now met with a message that reads – “Store is closed, we’ll be live soon.”

 

According to an official, the FDA had also inspected the Bandra West, Bhiwandi, and Borivali facilities and uncovered non-compliance to its standards, reported NDTVProfit. 

 

Products were reportedly stored in unhygienic surroundings with wet and filthy floors and were placed near stagnant water. The cold storage units did not meet the FDA’s prescribed temperature standards and had food items hoarded in a detrimental manner. The expired stock was not clearly bifurcated from the fresh ones resulting in a clear violation of FDA rules.

 

 

Assistant Commissioner of Food, Anupamaa Balasaheb Patil, issued the suspension citing Section 32(3) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. “If the food business operator still fails to comply with the improvement notice, the Designated Officer may, after giving the licensee an opportunity to show cause, cancel the licence granted to him,” says the act.

 

Zepto responded to these sanctions by emphasizing on their commitment to adhere to the highest food standards. “We have already initiated an internal review and are working closely with the concerned authorities to ensure full and swift compliance,” said a spokesperson to NDTV.

 

Kiranakart Technologies, co-founded by childhood friends and Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, was most recently valued at $5 billion. Despite its remarkable journey, the company has been recently facing backlash.

 

Few days back, the government issued notices to 11 major e-commerce companies including Zepto, for employing dark patterns to influence the decision making of customers. In the same week, CEO and co-founder Aadit Palicha shared on LinkedIn about a smear campaign that is allegedly being run by the CFO of a competing company.

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