FSSAI begins penal action against Amazon, Flipkart, Zepto and other food marketplaces
India’s food regulator has initiated action against five platforms over allegedly misleading food claims, incomplete product information and listings of prohibited or poisonous products. Listings involving Happilo, Milky Mist and dhatura were among those flagged.
What happened
FSSAI initiated penal action against Amazon, Flipkart India, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket over misleading food claims, inadequate product information
Key facts
- September 23
- Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
- five platforms
- past six months
Why this matters
Any partnership, acquisition or investment involving Indian food-commerce platforms should include deeper diligence on FSSAI compliance, product-information accuracy, seller accountability and restricted-item monitoring.
What to watch
- FSSAI notices naming specific platforms, sellers, brands, SKUs or alleged violations.
- Magnitude and type of penalties, including whether enforcement targets platforms as intermediaries or only underlying sellers.
- New FSSAI e-commerce guidance on pre-listing verification, label display standards, dark stores or quick-commerce operations.
- Visible SKU removals, search suppression, seller suspensions or changes in food-category onboarding policies.
- Repeat inspections involving quick-commerce dark stores, warehouse inventory or private-label products.
- Consumer complaints, food-safety incidents or media reports linking a flagged listing to harm.
- Conduct catalog-wide reviews of FSSAI licence validity, labels, ingredients, allergen information, expiry data and health or nutrition claims.
- Delist dhatura, other prohibited or poisonous items, and listings lacking mandatory product disclosures until sellers provide documentation.
- Require higher-risk brands and third-party sellers to submit packaging images, test certificates and claim substantiation before listings go live.
- Expand automated detection for misleading terms such as immunity, diabetic-friendly, natural, organic, medicinal and cure-related claims.
- Create tighter audit trails for seller identity, manufacturer details, FSSAI registration and fulfillment-chain accountability.
- Increase compliance outreach to brands such as packaged-snack and dairy suppliers whose listings may vary across marketplaces.