Maharashtra FDA suspends six food licences over expired-stock records, Reliance, Zomato, Blinkit units hit

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found lapses in the handling and destruction of expired, spoilt and returned food items in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune districts. Licences of six food businesses have since been suspended, and suspension orders have been issued against two more establishments.

According to the FDA, a joint inspection drive was held in October 2026. Food stock worth Rs 5,00,14,040 was seized at 10 locations. The biggest seizure was at a cold storage in Turbhe, Navi Mumbai, where 91,353 kg of dry fruits and spices worth Rs 4.12 crore were seized.

The action covers units of Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Zomato Hyperpure and Blinkit Commerce. The FDA said the inspections found gaps in records and no independently verifiable proof that the expired and rejected stock was actually destroyed.

The action comes as FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe is bringing in a statewide compliance order on the disposal of expired, spoilt and returned food. He has described it as the first of its kind in the country.

At Savla Foods and Cold Storage Pvt Ltd in Turbhe, 91,353 kg of stock worth Rs 4,12,53,300 was seized and the licence suspended. At the Blink Commerce Pvt Ltd warehouse at Pise (Pagaon) in Bhiwandi, expired and spoilt stock worth Rs 32,71,774 was found. Its licence was suspended and an FIR was registered at Bhiwandi Taluka police station. At Padgha, stock worth Rs 6,88,042 was seized from Cloudstore Retail Pvt Ltd, its licence was suspended and an FIR was registered at Padgha police station.

The licences of the Reliance Consumer Products and Reliance Retail establishments at Vadpe in Bhiwandi, and of Zomato Hyperpure at Usatne in Ambernath, were suspended on October 15. In Pune district, licence suspension orders were issued against Reliance Retail Ltd at Chakan and Blinkit Commerce Pvt Ltd at Nighoje.

The FDA said companies are required to show records that can be independently verified. These include the identity and quantity of the goods, batch details, their movement out of the warehouse, transport, receipt and, finally, details of destruction or lawful disposal. Inspectors found that several establishments could not produce complete records.

The lapses include the absence of a separate, locked quarantine area for expired stock and stock returned by customers. There was also no reconciliation between the quantity reported as expired and the quantity actually destroyed. Some establishments engaged disposal agencies without the consent of the Pollution Control Board, and some used unlicensed agencies. In some cases the sender and the receiver were the same, while goods were moved between states and destruction was shown as recorded on the same day. Differences were found in carton counts and weights. In one case, an invoice was made out in the name of an agency that did not exist.

In the first round on October 14 and 15, inspections were carried out at Gulzar Nagar, Chavindra, Vadpe, Khoni, Khadipar and Kamba village in Bhiwandi, at Usatne in Ambernath, and at Chakan and Nighoje in Pune district. At a discount store in Gulzar Nagar, expired, spoilt and leaking goods worth about Rs 80,575 were found kept for sale. As purchase bills and supplier papers were missing, the stock was seized under Section 38 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. At Chavindra, about 429.37 kg of spoilt stock (Rs 86,825) was found at premises belonging to Gulzar Abdul Mubeen Khan. There was no valid registration or licence, food was kept on the floor, and rats and cockroaches were present. Directions were given to shut the business. In all, expired and spoilt stock worth Rs 48,00,924 was recorded in this drive.

At Reliance Consumer Products Ltd in Vadpe, about 4,659 kg of expired stock (Rs 3,71,984) and 1,414.19 kg of damaged stock (Rs 1,19,864) were recorded. About 300 kg of spoilt and expired stock was found in the quarantine area of the Reliance Retail unit at Vadpe. At Zomato Hyperpure in Usatne, 5,431 products, about 9,590 kg and worth Rs 7,80,620, were recorded as spoilt, expired or rejected. Inspectors found cockroaches, rats, gnawed packets, and food items and Ayurvedic medicines kept on the same rack there.

About 18,405 items were found at the Blink Commerce warehouse at Pagaon. A company representative said it has agreements with some disposal agencies. According to the FDA, weighment slips, transport details and final disposal certificates were not available to the required extent. The FDA gave written directions to submit records by October 21, held a hearing on October 22 and suspended the licence the same day. FIR No. 0817/2026 was registered at Bhiwandi Taluka police station on October 23.

At Unit-2 of Cloudstore Retail in One K-Square Park near the Padgha toll naka, 7,566 items were found on October 24. After a hearing, the licence was suspended on October 26, and FIR No. 0454/2026 was registered the same day at Padgha police station.

In inspections at Turbhe on October 24 and 25, the FDA seized about 17,144 kg of expired stock (roughly Rs 1,62,18,650) and 74,209 kg of stock (Rs 2,50,34,650). Thirty-two samples of unlabelled and wrongly labelled food products were taken for testing. The licence was suspended with immediate effect in the interest of public health.

The FDA said that merely showing a vendor's name, an agreement or a tax invoice does not prove that the stock was destroyed. Under the new compliance order, expired, spoilt, returned and rejected stock must be kept in a separate locked quarantine area so that it does not reach the market for resale again. Disposal must be done through authorised agencies that have the Pollution Control Board's consent. Vehicle details, weighment slips, e-way bills and time-stamped photographs and videos must also be kept. The FDA said special inspections and legal action will continue across the state.

The department has asked customers to check the manufacturing date, batch number, best-before date and condition of the packaging before buying packaged food. Complaints about expired, spoilt or suspicious items on sale can be made to the FDA's toll-free helpline, 1800-222-365, or on its online portal.