2 weeks Ago By Kamya Pandey
Explainer Briefly Slides The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is expected to meet quick commerce platforms, including Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto, to discuss violations of food safety standards, according to a report by The Hindu. This comes soon after the retailer industry body All India Consumer Products Distributor Federation (AICPDF) reportedly raised concerns about quick commerce sites selling near expired food products. It argued that these platforms have become the “dumping ground” for non-movable and near-expiry stock, and while they offer customers heavy discounts, they are compromising consumer rights in the process.
Earlier this year, the Telangana Food Safety Task Force raided a Blinkit dark store and found the premises unhygienic. It mentioned that the dark store had expired food products and expressed suspicion that two products — Whole Farm Ragi flour and Toor dal— were infested. The authorities seized expired and suspected infested products worth Rs.
30,000 and Rs. 52,000 from the dark store. Quick commerce leading to the closure of Kirana stores: Besides flagging concerns about expired products, AICPDF has previously also highlighted the impact of quick commerce sites on traditional retail.
In October, the industry body released a statement pointing out that over 200,000 kirana stores have had to shut down because of quick commerce sites in the past year. It has also written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) urging it to take action against these platforms’ anti-competitive practices such as deep discounting and predatory pricing. In this letter, it also flagged that quick commerce sites’ dark stores “intentionally bypass” inventory-based e-commerce regulations.
Why it matters: With kirana stores shutting down and more people relying on quick commerce sites, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that the food present in quick commerce dark stores is safe for consumption. Depending on the results of this meeting, FSSAI could choose to bring in greater checks on dark stores and more impromptu raids (like the one on the Blinkit dark store). Also read:.
