Swiggy Shares Slip After FSSAI Issues Nine Notices to Instamart Over Food Safety Complaints

Swiggy shares declined over 1% on July 13 after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said it has issued nine notices to Swiggy Instamart over multiple consumer complaints alleging delivery of expired, spoilt and unsafe food products through the quick-commerce platform.

The regulator said notices were issued under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 after receiving complaints relating to food quality, product safety and compliance practices. The FSSAI stated that Instamart supplied expired, rotten, contaminated, and otherwise unsafe food items to consumers, and asked the company to provide a detailed explanation along with a compliance report. It warned that action could be taken under the Act if no reply was received.

Shares of Swiggy were trading nearly 1.2% lower at ₹269.88 in morning trade after the development.

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Consumer Complaints:

The complaints were about the products being reportedly delivered after their expiry dates and included Healthify 100% Whey Protein and Noice Homestyle Madras Mixture with Peanuts, FSSAI said. Other complaints cited by the regulator include expired and contaminated eggs, spoilt ready-to-eat food, damaged packaged products and contaminated dairy products.

One of the complainants said, “Akshayakalpa Organic Eggs were delivered in a rotten and contaminated condition”. The other complaint was regarding Kakke da Paratha which was allegedly found spoilt and not fit for eating. FSSAI also mentioned complaints related to contaminated milk and eggs supplied through the platform.

The regulator said some of the more serious observations included an infant food formulation allegedly delivered in a deteriorated condition with signs of contamination and improper storage. It also said the same product was reportedly supplied even after the defective item was returned by the customer.

The food safety regulator also pointed to alleged lapses in compliance such as wrong or invalid FSSAI licence numbers and instances where food business operators were listed under different names than those registered with the regulator.

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Regulatory Crackdown:

Some complainants were not satisfied with the grievance redressal mechanism of the platform, as their complaints were not addressed properly or were resolved by way of refunds without proper investigation into the food safety issues reported, the FSSAI said.

Commenting on the development, an Instamart spokesperson said, the company is reviewing the listings flagged by FSSAI and is working closely with the regulator to address the concerns.

The notices are part of a larger enforcement drive by FSSAI in recent months. Over the past two to three months, the regulator has issued notices to a number of food, beverage and quick-commerce companies for allegedly making misleading claims, labelling violations and food safety concerns.

There was Lotte India, Ferns N Petals and Kubera Foods on labelling and marketing practices. FSSAI has also issued notices to six beverage brands sold as energy drinks for alleged misbranding and misleading claims, including Red Bull Energy Drink, PepsiCo’s Adrenaline Rush Energy Drink, Reliance Consumer Products’ Campa Energy Drink Gold Boost, Sting Energy Drink, Hell Energy and Coca-Cola-backed Monster Energy.