The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is considering dedicated regulations for ecommerce platforms, including quick commerce players, and cloud kitchens to tighten food safety compliance and product disclosures.

The proposed rules would require online food listings to display manufacturing and expiry dates and batch numbers, and hold platforms accountable for misleading claims made by manufacturers, Bloomberg reported. The regulator is also considering mandatory disclosure of cloud kitchen photographs and addresses

FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani told ET that the regulator has held consultations with ecommerce and quick commerce companies and started inspecting dark stores and cloud kitchens.

“We’re planning to amend the regulation so that consumers know the manufacturing date, expiry date and batch number of products they’re ordering,” he said.

The regulator is also considering stricter checks on dark store storage conditions, including the handling of frozen products, as per the Bloomberg report.

The proposed changes come amid increased scrutiny of quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart over their failure to display essential product information, including expiry, best-before and use-by dates.

While platforms often mention a product’s shelf life, consumers may not know its actual expiry date or batch number before placing an order.

The proposed ecommerce rules are part of the FSSAI’s broader crackdown on food safety and labelling violations. Prosecutions involving ecommerce companies have risen at least five- to sixfold over the past year, Punhani said, adding that platforms were improving compliance but not at the expected pace.

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