Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended Blink Commerce Pvt. Ltd.'s food business licence for its Bhiwandi facility and an FIR has been registered over the company's failure to provide verifiable records establishing the safe disposal of expired and unsaleable food products.
The licence suspension took effect on October 22, while the FIR was registered at Bhiwandi Taluka Police Station on October 23.
The action followed an inspection of Blinkit's facility in Pagaon, Bhiwandi taluka, where officials identified 18,405 food items worth Rs 32.71 lakh that were classified as expired, damaged or unfit for sale.
The company could not provide independently verifiable evidence that the stock had been finally disposed of through authorised and safe channels, the FDA said.
Officials found gaps in the documentation relating to the movement and disposal of the goods. The company did not produce records such as weighment slips, transport details, e-way bills, goods receipt notes, CCTV footage, time-stamped photographs and disposal certificates.
Blink Commerce director Vijay Rajpurohit attended a hearing, where agreements with two disposal agencies were submitted. However, the FDA said these agreements alone did not establish that the stock had actually been transported and destroyed. Supporting documents relating to four other vendors were also not provided.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 318(4), 275, 61 and 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 59(i) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The registration of the FIR does not, by itself, establish guilt.
Blink Commerce is barred from conducting food business under the suspended licence. The FDA has also stated that the stock in question cannot be sold, transferred, moved, repacked, relabelled or disposed of without prior written directions from the competent authority.
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The action is part of a wider Maharashtra FDA enforcement drive. Inspections conducted by seven teams on October 14 and 15 across Bhiwandi, Ambernath, Chakan and Nighoje uncovered expired or spoiled food stock worth Rs 48.09 lakh.
The FDA has also suspended licences at premises associated with Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Zomato Hyperpure and Blink Commerce in Nighoje.
Authorities are investigating whether food handed over for authorised disposal was actually destroyed or diverted through intermediaries back into the market. The roles of company officials, vendors, disposal agencies and other intermediaries remain under investigation.
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