Maharashtra FDA suspends food licence of Blinkit dark store in Pune
Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the food licence of
quick commerce
platform
Blinkit
in
Pune
's Balewadi area for not complying with regulations.
This comes after the authorities stepped up surveillance of dark stores amid concerns around food safety and hygiene in these facilities.
The Maharashtra FDA conducted an investigation on June 5 and found that the facility did not have a licence from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for production, distribution or sale of food items.
Following this, the facility's food business licence was suspended until the required licence under Section 31 (1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, is obtained.
Despite the lack of a licence, the Blinkit facility, operated by M/s Energy Darkstore Services near Mitcon College in Balewadi, was storing and selling food items.
Blinkit did not respond to detailed queries on the matter.
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In the same order, the authorities noted that the facility had also violated food safety measures. They found food items on the floor, the pest control audit certificate missing, workers in the food area not wearing protective caps, food items stored on dusty racks and a cold storage without a calibration certificate.
Last week, a similar probe was conducted at quick commerce platform
Zepto's Dharavi facility
and its food business licence was suspended after it was found to be in violation of food safety guidelines. The violations included fungal growth on food articles, food storage near stagnant water, the cold storage temperature not being maintained and expired food items unsegregated from the main stock, as per a press note by the FDA.
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Concerns rise over hygiene standards in dark stores amid quick commerce boom
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