It’s quick, but is it safe?

THE Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently suspended the food business licence of the Dharavi distribution outlet of Zepto —one of the quick-commerce (Q-Com) companies — over gross violations of food safety laws. The suspension raises serious concerns over the safety of food that these Q-Com companies deliver.

Their numbers are small, probably about 10, but only three to four are dominant players who have in recent times captured a huge market and really changed the way we buy household essentials. We now no longer make those long lists of our grocery needs for the entire month, drive to a grocery store and buy them in one go and then spend time organising them in the kitchen. Instead, we buy our food items as and when we need them, saving considerable time. But are we sacrificing our safety and well-being for speed and convenience? And should we buy from entities that cock a snook at food safety laws meant for our protection? It’s time to ponder over these issues.

The biggest drawback with the Q-Com business model is that consumers cannot see the insides of their ‘dark stores’, where inventories are kept, and hence have no way of knowing whether they are complying with the hygiene and safety parameters drawn up by the national food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

So, the violations in the dark store at Dharavi really come as an eye-opener. The inspecting team found food with fungal contamination, stagnant and clogged water in storage areas, cold storage units meant to preserve food running at temperatures not conducive for food safety — violations that can lead to severe food-borne illnesses in individuals and can even cause a community outbreak of diseases.

In June 2024, a task force from the office of the Commissioner of Food Safety, Telangana, had raided the warehouse of another Q-Com company, Blinkit, at Devarayamjal village near Hyderabad.

It found very unhygienic conditions in the warehouse. The storage racks were dusty and the place was quite disorganised. The task force confiscated Rs 52,000 worth of foodgrains with suspected infestation and Rs 30,000 worth of expired food.

In fact, Blinkit’s dark store violations, coupled with several consumer complaints over unsafe foods, had prompted the FSSAI to direct the state food commissioners to intensify surveillance of e-commerce companies, particularly the dark stores of Q-Com entities. According to media reports, improvement notices were issued to about 350 operators.

The Central and state regulators also conducted 180 inspections and raids, and in December last year, the FSSAI issued an advisory about strict compliance with hygiene and food safety.

Obviously, the warnings have not had the desired effect, and it is time for the regulator to take a tough stand and close all dark stores violating the law. Rough estimates put the number of such stores in the country at around 5,000.

In fact, going by the consumer complaints, these companies violate not only Article 21 of the Constitution (right to safe food, flowing from our right to life) and the Food Safety and Standards Act, but also consumer protection and legal metrology laws.

There are innumerable consumer complaints of expired food and food close to the expiry date being delivered, even though the FSSAI has mandated that at the time of delivery, products must have a minimum shelf life of 30 per cent or at least 45 days before their expiry.

Extensive deployment of dark patterns in the user interface (UI) is another common grievance. Consumer complaints on various social platforms show how at the time of payment, the bills are jacked up to include charges not mentioned earlier, such as ‘small cart fee’, ‘rain fee’, ‘surge charge’, ‘cash handling fee’, ‘delivery charge’, ‘processing fee’ and even ‘Feeding India donation’.

The Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, formulated under the Consumer Protection Act, prohibit such dark patterns, constituting unfair trade practices.

There are also consumer complaints of leaky pouches, torn food packets, spoilt yogurt and milk, fruits smelling of fish, wrong billing; of goods weighing less than the declared weight — a violation of the Legal Metrology Act. Poor complaint redressal only adds to the problem.

The FDA action on the Zepto warehouse is a wake-up call for the Q-Com industry, with a reported online annual shoppers’ base of 20 million. If they do not comply with food safety and consumer protection laws, they will lose their burgeoning consumer base.

— The writer is a consumer affairs expert