Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set a deadline of September 30, 2026 for quick commerce platforms to display food labels and expiry details.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani said that preparations are underway for a crackdown on e-commerce and quick commerce platforms. He assured, no bad or expired food products will be allowed to be sold online.
Punhani said platforms will have to display package and expiry details and consumers should be able to see package and expiry details before buying online. He pointed out that online food sales will face the same scrutiny as physical stores.
According to FSSAI, labelling has emerged as a major food-safety issue as rising consumer awareness has brought more scrutiny to food products. He stressed that companies must ensure their labels accurately reflect the true nature of their products.
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In terms of food items sold online, he mentioned that e-commerce platforms cannot simply classify themselves as just aggregators. These platforms are accountable for the food products listed and sold on their websites.
In the past few months, FSSAI heightened scrutny on companies and issued more than 150 notices to major food and beverage firms over misleading advertisements, false claims and labelling non-compliance, the regulator earlier said on X.
Over the past year, the regulator recorded around 33,000 prosecutions and imposed penalties exceeding Rs 1 crore. Speaking on the criticism that the penalties may be too small, Punhani said even a small fine can have a significant impact on a brand. He added that the scale of prosecutions shows that the enforcement mechanism has been effective.
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