The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announced on Wednesday that it has begun penal proceedings against five e-commerce platforms due to various violations of food safety regulations. This move highlights the authority’s commitment to ensuring compliance with food safety standards in the online marketplace.
The action was taken for misleading claims related to food product ‘Happilo Premium Date Bites – Zesty Orange’, PTI news agency reported. The regulatory body has, over the past six months, stepped up crackdowns against food business operators (FBOs) and e-commerce companies. The food regulatory body said the crackdown was initiated under the FSS Act, 2006 and applicable FSSAI regulations.
“Penal action initiated against – Amazon, Swiggy Instamart, Bigbasket, Flipkart India and Zepto,” it said. It cited “various food safety and regulatory non-compliances” as the reason for the action. It said this includes “misbranding/ misleading claims, sale and display of prohibited/ poisonous food articles through e-commerce platforms. The penal action against the e-commerce platforms comes days after the food safety regulator said it was taking legal action against Nestle India Ltd. FSSAI said the step was being taken after finding that a baby food sample violated quality standards and two other infant nutrition products were promoted in contravention of the rules for such products, according to an earlier HT report . FSSAI said a sample of follow-up formula manufactured by the company was found to be substandard with respect to biotin content during laboratory analysis.
