Online food delivery service provider, Zomato was handed over a notice from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and was asked to garner a food safety licence for their operations in India.
FSSAI officials scrutinized the Zomato state head office situated at Cantt Road and floated a notice on behalf of FSSAI to the food delivery service for not incurring food licence/registration under section 31 of The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which states that “no person shall commence or carry on any food business except under a licence.”
Industry sources said that while Zomato officials claimed that they do not prepare food themselves and only manage supply, they have still been issued a notice asking for procurement of food safety licence since “they operate in delivery and hence are bound to the safety of food products guidelines.”
The food safety officer of the Nagar Nigam, Dehradun, Ramesh Singh who spearheaded the team said that the online food delivery service was further asked to furnish the lists of the food manufacturers with whom they are operating with along with their FSSAI licences and registration numbers.
“The FSSAI has also sought the medical certificates of all the employees who work with food outlets associated with Zomato who are directly involved in food preparation and packaging,” said Ramesh Singh.
Zomato officials have been handed over a notice of seven days to provide the details asked by FSSAI. The move by the food safety authority comes after its chief executive had recently announced new guidelines which direct food delivery services to garner new licences.
The official said that these new directions were targeted at strengthening confidence in the e-commerce food business and to check the quality of food delivered by the professionals engaged with these services.
