Sub-standard food: FSSAI orders Swiggy, Zomato to delist non-licenced restaurants

After receiving series of complaints of sub-standard food being supplied by restaurants and eateries listed on food delivery startups including Swiggy and Zomato, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked them to remove non-licence holders restaurants and eateries.

FSSAI has given them time till this month to submit an action-taken report along with details of the restaurants registered on their platform.

The regulator meant specifically to 10 food delivery firms- Swiggy, UberEats, Zomato, Box8, Fasoos, FoodCloud, Foodmongo, Foodpanda, JusFood and LimeTray.

Earlier in February, FSSAI had issued operational guidelines for e-commerce Food Business Operator (FBOs). It asked them to display their licence number and comply with the Food Safety and Standards Act, Rules and Regulations.

Below are detailed instructions issued with immediate effect.

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There were also several complaints of sub-standard food being delivered to consumers through online market aggregators, FSSAI said in a statement.

FSSAI also found that these services were not complying with guidelines issued over the matter.

"Compliance with guidelines was patchy and there were complaints of restaurants/hotels without FSSAI licence being listed and allowed to offer/sell food products on e-commerce foodservice platforms. There were also several complaints of substandard food being delivered through online market aggregators,” the food regulator added.

Of late, food tech industry has witnessed rapid growth. The industry is growing at 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter and is on course to hit $1.5 billion by the end of 2018.

It is expected to touch at least $2.5 billion by 2021. According to RedSeer, Bengaluru-based Swiggy leads market share with 35-38 per cent, followed by Zomato at 25-30 per cent.