The e-commerce and quick-commerce food operators have been asked by the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ensure a minimum shelf life of 30 per cent or at least 45 days before products expire at the time of delivery on Tuesday.
FSSAI Setting Expiry For Food Items
Basically this order indicates a rising concern over violations of food safety standards in quick-commerce and e-commerce.
Further, this meeting led by FSSAI Chief Executive Officer G Kamala Vardhana Rao where he has brought together over 200 platforms and industry bodies, including major players Blinkit and Zepto.
During this meeting, Rao urged the online businesses to launch robust training programmes for delivery staff.
This is to ensure that they’re well-versed in critical food safety and hygiene protocols.
In the FSSAI part, they set expiry timelines for food items sold on ecom and qcom.
Conducting Regular Health Checkups
Moving ahead, FSSAI asked firms to ensure minimum shelf life of 30% or 45 days before products expire on delivery.
Further, the food safety regulator pressed the platforms to conduct regular health checkups for delivery executives to support Food Safety Training & Certification (FoSTaC).
This is mainly to prevent contamination and the regulator also insisted that food and non-food items be delivered separately.
Besides this, Rao cautioned these operators against making unverified claims online.
FSSAI said, “This would prevent misleading information and protect consumers’ right to accurate product details,” in a release.
According to the regulator, any product claim made on e-commerce and quick commerce platforms — like marking a product healthy — must align with the information provided on the product labels and is in adherence to the FSSAI’s Labeling and Display Regulations.
Further the release said, “A transparent, compliant, and accountable e-commerce food sector is vital for protecting consumer health and fostering confidence in digital food marketplaces.”
This move is mainly affected by issues which were recently being highlighted which were related to the sale of near-expiry food products and those lacking expiry dates via digital commerce platforms have been flagged by several authorities.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued notices to quick-commerce and e-commerce players for failing to display MRPs and “best before” dates for perishables last month.
