Hyderabad: 75 e-commerce warehouses inspected; expired, misbranded food items uncovered

Hyderabad: Telangana Commissioner of Food Safety conducted a statewide inspection of warehouses operated by leading e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms, uncovering large quantities of expired and misbranded food items.

The special drive covered major platforms, including Zepto, Reliance JioMart, Blinkit, BigBasket, Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Amazon, along several local distribution units.

75 warehouses inspected

As part of the operation, food safety officials inspected 75 warehouses across different locations in the state. The inspection focused on storage conditions, expiry compliance, hygiene standards, and labeling norms.

Over 220 samples collected for testing

During the inspections, officials lifted 98 enforcement samples and 124 surveillance samples for detailed laboratory analysis to check for quality, safety standards, and regulatory violations.

Large-scale seizures and disposals

The drive led to the seizure of 1,903 units of food products that were either expired, misbranded, or carrying misleading labels. Additionally, officials discarded 76 kilograms of expired articles, stale food, and rotten vegetables found unfit for human consumption.

32 improvement notices issued

Following the violations detected, the department issued 32 improvement notices to warehouse operators, directing them to rectify lapses in food storage, hygiene practices, and labeling compliance.

Consumer safety a top priority

Officials reiterated that such enforcement drives will continue across Telangana to ensure that consumers receive safe, hygienic, and properly labeled food products, especially from fast-growing online delivery platforms.