The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended Blinkit's food business license for its Bhiwandi facility over severe regulatory non-compliance, following an October 21 inspection that revealed the company failed to provide end-to-end traceability or proof of destruction for approximately 18,405 expired, damaged, or rejected food items valued at over Rs 32.71 lakh.
Authorities ordered the immediate cessation of licensed operations at the premises, citing a direct threat to public health due to the risk of this "unsaleable inventory" being diverted and sold back to consumers.
READ | Exclusive: Tukaram Mundhe Reveals How His Department Tracks Unsafe Food And Identifies The Culprits
FIR Registered Against Executives
Following the suspension, the FDA lodged an FIR at the Bhiwandi Taluka Police Station against key Blinkit personnel, including a whole-time director, facility managers, and multiple scrap disposal vendors.
The accused have been booked under multiple sections of the BNS 2023, including cheating and criminal conspiracy and Section 59(i) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, for allegedly conspiring to resell expired food products for financial gain.
Bhiwandi is one of India's largest and most important warehousing and logistics hubs, particularly for e-commerce, retail, and third-party logistics.
Bhiwandi is widely recognised as the largest warehousing and logistics hub in Western India and one of the biggest in Asia. It functions as a massive central command and fulfilment node for the country's biggest quick commerce, e-commerce and FMCG brands. Companies like Zomato Hyperpure, Swiggy, Amazon, and Blinkit operate mega-fulfilment centres spanning lakhs of square feet here to replenish their inner-city dark stores.
The Maharashtra FDA, under Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, has executed major enforcement raids in Bhiwandi targeting warehouses, dark stores, and waste-disposal networks involved in rerouting expired and rejected stock back into the consumer market
Recent Investigations revealed that stock marked for destruction by major food companies and suppliers was illegally diverted back to local traders and discount stores instead of being safely destroyed. Law enforcement recently registered FIRs against 10 individuals linked to food companies, warehouses, disposal agencies, and local traders.
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