FDA suspends licences of warehouses of Reliance Consumer, Reliance Retail, Blinkit, Zomato Hyperpure

Mumbai: The Maharashtra FDA has suspended the licences of five warehouses of Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Zomato Hyperpure and Blinkit after detecting that expired, damaged and rejected food products of over Rs 48 lakh were allegedly being routed back into the market, officials said.

In its official statement issued on Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had seized 8,392 kilograms of stock valued at Rs 48,08,924 during a special operation conducted in Thane and Pune districts on October 14 and 15.

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The action followed suspicions that expired, damaged, rejected and packaging-damaged food products, instead of being destroyed through authorised channels, were being resold through intermediaries, local vendors and disposal agencies, it said.

The licences of the warehouses of Reliance Consumer Products Ltd and Reliance Retail Ltd at Wadpe in Bhiwandi, Zomato Hyperpure Pvt Ltd at Usatane in Ambernath, Reliance Retail at Chakan in Pune district and Blinkit Commerce Pvt Ltd at Nighoje in Pune district.

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The FDA also ordered two unlicensed establishments to stop operations and initiated separate action against them for conducting business without the requisite food safety registration or licence.

The investigation covered warehouses, disposal centres and retail outlets in Bhiwandi, Ambernath and Khed taluka of Pune district. Seven teams carried out coordinated inspections after gathering intelligence between September 23 and October 5.

At the Zomato Hyperpure warehouse at Usatane, which stores and distributes products for Blinkit, inspectors found 5,431 products weighing 1,590 kg and valued at Rs 7.80 lakh that had expired, and were damaged or rejected.

The FDA reported cockroach and rodent infestations, rodent-gnawed and leaking packets, rodent droppings and food products stored on the same rack as Ayurvedic medicines. Deficiencies in cold-chain maintenance and vehicle hygiene were also detected.

The company identified Ali Miya Enterprises as its disposal contractor. However, invoices reportedly showed that food products were sold at extremely low prices to the firm and another entity, Pan India Grocery Dump in Bengaluru, which investigators initially found did not appear to exist.

Some dispatch documents named the same entity as both sender and receiver, while dispatch and disposal certificates carried identical dates despite the interstate movement involved. The licence was suspended on October 15.

At Reliance Consumer Products' Wadpe warehouse, inspectors recorded around 4,659 kg of expired products worth Rs 3.78 lakh and 1,414.19 kg of damaged products worth Rs 1.19 lakh.

The FDA cited inconsistencies in disposal documents, missing transport records and other supporting evidence, including vehicle details, e-way bills, toll and GPS records, and weight receipts. The licence was suspended after a hearing.

At Reliance Retail's Wadpe warehouse, 300 kg of expired or damaged stock worth Rs 51,265 was found in a quarantine room. The company could not provide several documents required to verify the disposal process, following which its licence was suspended.

At Reliance Retail's Chakan warehouse, expired and damaged products were found mixed with other stock without proper segregation. Inspectors also reported rodent droppings, cockroaches in floor cracks and employees spitting on the premises. The company failed to provide verifiable evidence of the final disposal of the products.

At Blinkit's Nighoje facility, inspectors found the cold-room temperature above 5 degrees Celsius, missing cold-chain records, leaking packets, cockroach infestation and food items stored directly on the floor. Of around 600 employees, only five had FoSTaC food safety certification, the FDA said.

The licence was suspended after the company failed to provide evidence establishing when, where and in what quantities expired products had been disposed of.

Investigation also found violations at unlicensed establishments.

Discount Store in Bhiwandi was found selling and storing 18 types of expired, damaged and leaking food products worth Rs 80,575 without an FSSAI licence or registration.

Another supplier, Gulzar Abdul Mubeen Khan, was found storing 429.37 kg of damaged and expired food worth Rs 86,825 in unhygienic conditions, with inadequate lighting, dust, cobwebs, wastewater and rodent and cockroach infestations. Officials ordered the establishment to stop operations.

At B K Disposal in Bhiwandi, expired and damaged products from different companies were allegedly stored without a licence or proper records of receipt, transfer, weighing and authorised disposal. The establishment was also ordered to stop operations, the FDA said in its statement.

The FDA also seized 22,550 kg of suspected substandard mixed sev and farsan worth Rs 63.14 lakh from Moti Namkeen Private Limited's manufacturing unit in Parbhani on October 16 citing poor worker hygiene and the absence of batch and supplier records, among other things. Its licence was suspended, and samples were sent for laboratory testing.

In another operation, the FDA and police intercepted a car carrying banned scented tobacco, pan masala and gutka in Dharashiv district. Officials seized the prohibited products worth Rs 9.07 lakh and the vehicle valued at Rs 7 lakh, taking the total seizure to Rs 16.07 lakh, and an FIR was registered against two accused.