EATERIES FLOUT SAFETY NORMS, FOOD ORDERING APPS UNDER FIRE

MUMBAI: Officials from the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) recently issued notices to 113 food establishments connected to e-commerce food websites and mobile applications such as Swiggy, Zomato, Food Panda and Uber Eats after it found that some of the establishments connected to them violated food safety norms and are functioning without legal licences in Mumbai.

The FDA conducted the inspection from September 21 to October 1, and action was taken on the directions of Pallavi Darade, commissioner, FDA.

Sunil Bharadwaj, joint commissioner, FDA, said they intended to inspect the quality of food cooked and provided by these establishments, and whether they have necessary licences to do so.

“We inspected 347 establishments, of which 113 were functioning without necessary licences and registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act. These establishments are connected to Swiggy, Zomato, Food Panda, Zomato and Uber Eats— the mobile applications through which customers order food from these establishments. Owners of these establishments are issued a stop work order,” said Bharadwaj. Of these, 85 were connected to Swiggy, 50 to Zomato, three to Food Panda and two to Uber Eats. The further course of action will be decided once the establishments responds to the notice, said Darade.

We inspected 347 establishments. 113 were functioning without necessary licences and registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act. SUNIL BHARADWAJ, joint commissioner, FDA