The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) filed 22 cases for adjudication against food service mobile applications Zomato and Swiggy, as they were found to be delivering food from a 113 food outlets in Mumbai, that had been issued stop-business notices in October, The Indian Express reported.
The FDA relayed that the respective cases were expected to come up for hearing later this month, in December, before a quasi-judicial body that has been set up by the body.
Expecting a quick wrap-up of the cases, Shailesh Aadhav, the joint commissioner (food) of Mumbai told the newspaper:
“The hearing in these cases will commence soon. These outlets were found working without licence and the food portals were delivering their food to consumers without ensuring that the outlets had licence to cook.”
Earlier this year, between September and October, food inspectors had evaluated 347 food outlets in Mumbai, which delivered its dishes through online food aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato. Out of these, 113 had been found violating several rules under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) – which included working without a licence and working in unhygienic cooking conditions, the report added.
These 113 food outlets were given an immediate stop-business notices under Section 14 of the FSSA, by the body. The FDA told the newspaper that along with this, it also issued notices to portals which helped these outlets deliver food. So out of the 113 outlets, at least 85 outlets were attached to Swiggy, 50 to Zomato, three to Foodpanda and two with Uber Eats.
As a result, 22 cases of adjudication were filed against Zomato and Swiggy, as “both were found delivering food from unlicensed outlets,” Aadhav said. However, he added that several of the outlets had been de-listed by Swiggy and Zomato, following the FAD notice, the report added.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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