Zomato,
Swiggy and others to de-list restaurants without FSSAI license
Let's
be honest "your food is on its way" is one of the happiest
notification that a food business can send to their customers. Generating
revenue with the help of the internet and online orders, great reviews leading
to the increased outreach of restaurants has made for a blissful time for
food-based businesses. Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats, Foodpanda are all a means to
end providing best quality cuisine to your customers in remote locations.
However,
it would be a shame if a restaurant would lose valuable customers because of
unsafe standards of food. FSSAI(Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)
has instructed the major food delivery services to delist restaurants not
having FSSAI license. This directive was issued in July
of 2018.
Sub-standard
Food
The
issue of the food safety arose because of the spike in the frequency of
complaints from customers of these food delivery apps bemoaning sub-standard
and potentially health-endangering food.
Unsafe ingredients, unhygienic
preparation environment, improper handling of food items are all things a food
restaurant should be vary of or else it could lead to FSSAI license being
rejected and ultimately losing a huge client base from apps like Zomato, Swiggy,
UberEats and, Foodpanda.
Swift
Action being taken to ensure food safety
In
the quest for providing a comprehensive list of available food outlets to
customers, these food delivery apps sign up most of the restaurants on their
respective platforms without checking for appropriate FSSAI licenses. However,
this methodology is undergoing a massive change with the directive from FSSAI.
Zomato,
one of the top food delivery apps in India has taken proactive measures and
already delisted dozens of restaurants from its platforms. CEO of
ZomatoDeepinderGoyal assures that these restaurants will be back to order
online from once they have their FSSAI licenses.
Zomato has also taken measures
to help their highest-valued restaurants with inappropriate FSSAI registration
by requesting a deadline extension. The previous deadline was set at the 31st
of July but has now be moved down to end-September.
Swiggy
was not far behind, with the food delivery app de-listing many unregistered
restaurants from their platform as well. Swiggy however, was also extremely
helpful towards restaurants when they set up FSSAI assist programs to help
these institutions acquire their FSSAI licensing.
FSSAI serious about Safety of Products from Delivery Apps
Food
safety is not a matter to be taken lightly since it could not only be a health
hazard to individuals but it could lead to mass epidemics. FSSAI has ensured
disgruntled customers of the food-delivery apps that more than 90-95% of
businesses will be compliant with their food safety standards by the end of
September 2018.
Currently, an estimated 30-40% of the restaurants on these
platforms appear to be in non-compliance with the directive for acquiring FSSAI
license.
The
regulatory body of FSSAI has also employed the services of an external
audit-firm to help with carrying out safety checks across the restaurants
listed in the food-delivery platforms. FSSAI has also requested for the likes
of Swiggy, Zomato to integrate hygiene ratings in their platforms. Swiggy has
replicated the understanding of the gravity of the situation by deploying the
services of Equinox Labs, A FSSAI accredited food-auditing firm .
As of this
day, Swiggy and Zomato have 40,000 and 50,000 restaurants respectively under
their platforms which could result in over-extension in the time frame of
applying this policy but one thing is for sure the government will not put up
with unsafe food practices or platforms that help in the sale of such products.
“This article is written by Hardik Vats, presently
working as content writer with LegalRaasta.”
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