With an increasing number of people ordering food online, India's food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), recently asked food business operators listed on ecommerce food delivery platforms to display their licence numbers.

Earlier in February, 2018, FSSAI had operationalised guidelines for ecommerce food business operators (FBOs).

Despite these guidelines, the authority has received several complaints with respect to sub-standard food being delivered through these platforms.

To cater to this, the food regulator directed ecommerce food-service platforms to initiate immediate action and delist the defaulting food businesses.

Close to ten platforms including Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats, Faasos have also been asked to submit an action report with details.

Taking this issue seriously and to follow up on the action taken by ecommerce food delivery platforms, sources tell CNBC-TV18 that the FSSAI is planning a large scale audit of these firms in September.

This audit will be an assessment of their information technology systems and review their enrolling, listing procedures.

The FSSAI will also do a status check on if the FBOs or delivery platforms are compliant with regulations. Those defaulting FBOs or platforms on these procedures will be penalised or will face imprisonment.

CNBC-TV18 learned that imprisonment up to three years or penalties up to Rs five lakh will be imposed on offenders.

A recent review conducted by the FSSAI found that 30-40 percent of the FBOs listed on ecommerce food service platforms had not displayed their licenses as yet. Remains to be seen how developments in this space shape up.

First Published:Aug 9, 2018 12:06 PM IST