The Telangana Food Safety Department carried out a two-day Statewide inspection of warehouses operated by major e-commerce platforms, uncovering expired products, mis-branded items and unhygienic storage practices across Telangana.
The special drive, carried out on November 25 and 26, covered facilities linked to platforms which include Zepto, Reliance JioMart, BlinkIt, Big Basket, Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Amazon and other local warehouse units.
According to data compiled by the Commissioner of Food Safety, officials inspected 75 warehouses across 33 districts, including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) region. The inspection teams lifted 98 enforcement samples and 124 surveillance samples from storage sites during the drive. Warehouses within the GHMC limits accounted for the highest number of visits, with 25 units inspected and 83 samples collected, including 39 enforcement samples and 44 surveillance samples.
Telangana’s Commissioner of Food Safety Sangeetha Satyanarayana said the exercise was taken up to assess the way e-commerce supply chains are now handling a large volume of packaged food.
The inspections resulted in the seizure of 1,903 units of expired or misbranded food products and items with misleading labels. Officials also discarded 76 kg of stale or rotten goods, including spoiled vegetables and expired packaged foods.
The inspection also resulted in the issuance of 32 improvement notices to warehouse operators, with GHMC alone accounting for 19 of those.
“The drive was meant to evaluate compliance with food safety norms in the expanding online grocery and rapid delivery ecosystem. With more consumers relying on e-commerce platforms for daily food items, the need for frequent inspections to ensure that warehouses maintain proper storage conditions and prevent expired or unsafe goods from reaching households,” added Ms.Satyanarayana.
Published – November 28, 2025 01:25 am IST
