Now, FSSAI Issues Show-Cause Notices To BigBasket, Flipkart Over Misleading Claims

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued show-cause notices to fast food delivery and ecommerce companies BigBasket, Flipkart, and Gemini Edibles & Fats India for allegedly making deceptive claims about their "Freedom Cooking Rice Bran Oil". The regulator claims the oil's marketing, which states it reduces bad cholesterol and maintains or increases good cholesterol, and boasts of containing 10,000+ PPM Natural Oryzanol, is misleading.

Gemini Edibles & Fats India is also accused of selling food items through its online platform without a valid Central Licence to conduct ecommerce. The FSSAI's notice follows an investigation into promotional materials on various digital media platforms and ecommerce websites. The regulator is reportedly considering drafting specific rules for ecommerce and quick commerce platforms, as well as cloud kitchens.

These proposed regulations would require online food listings to display manufacturing and expiry dates and batch numbers, and platforms would be held responsible for any misleading claims made by manufacturers. The regulator would also mandate the disclosure of cloud kitchen photos and addresses, and impose stricter inspections on dark store storage conditions.

This move comes amid intensified scrutiny of ecommerce and quick commerce platforms for food safety violations. Earlier this year, FSSAI penalized multiple platforms, including Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto, for allegedly engaging in misbranding, making misleading claims, and selling prohibited or harmful food items.

In a separate incident in August, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration suspended the licenses of 14 dark stores following a state-wide inspection, and Karnataka food safety officials sealed a Zepto warehouse in Bengaluru's Hoskote for multiple food safety violations.