The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a penal action against quick commerce and ecommerce platforms for various food safety and regulatory non-compliances.

Quick commerce companies, including Amazon, Bigbasket, Flipkart, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, have been penalised by the regulator for allegedly engaging in misbranding, misleading claims, sale and display of prohibited or poisonous food articles via e-commerce platforms, FSSAI said in a social media.

The penal actions, which were initiated under the FSS Act, 2006, and applicable FSSAI regulations were taken on the basis of products hosted on the platforms. Here’s a breakdown of what warranted the penalisation:

The development comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny over quick commerce platforms and the upkeep of their dark stores, which have also featured surprise checks at some of the dark stores of various quick commerce platforms. The regulatory checks come amid aggressive dark store expansion of these companies.

As of June 2026, Blinkit operated 2,443 active dark stores across 300 cities, while Swiggy Instamart’s network comprised 1,171 dark stores across 131 cities. Meanwhile, Zepto had 1,139 dark stores across 66 cities at the end of March 2026.

Earlier in August, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended the licences of 14 “food business establishments” linked to quick commerce platforms Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart, after a state-wide inspection drive uncovered widespread food safety and hygiene violations at multiple dark stores. 

Back then, the Maharashtra FDA also inspected 86 dark stores selling and delivering food through online platforms. Five establishments, each of Zepto and Blinkit, and two others linked to Swiggy Instamart had their licences suspended.

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