The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has exposed an alleged racket in which expired, spoiled and rejected food products were falsely shown as destroyed on paper and pushed back into the market for resale, suspending the licences of six establishments, issuing suspension orders against two others and getting two FIRs registered, the department said on Friday.
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said certain disposal agencies were allegedly issuing fake destruction certificates while the actual food stock was diverted to unlicensed warehouses and repackaging units, where manufacturing and expiry dates were reportedly altered before the products were supplied to brokers and retailers for resale.
The action followed a special inspection campaign conducted in October across Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune districts to identify food items being illegally resold under the guise of disposal. At M/s Savla Foods and Cold Storage Private Limited in Turbhe, officials seized 91,353 kilograms of food material valued at more than Rs 4.12 crore, and the company's licence was suspended.
Seizures at Bhiwandi and Padgha, FIRs registered
In Bhiwandi, stock worth Rs 32.71 lakh was seized from M/s Blink Commerce Private Limited; its licence was suspended and an FIR was filed at the Bhiwandi Taluka police station. At Padgha, stock valued at Rs 6.88 lakh was seized from M/s Cloudstore Retail Private Limited, whose licence was also suspended, with an FIR lodged at the Padgha police station. The FDA also suspended the licences of Reliance Consumer Products and Reliance Retail at Vadpe in Bhiwandi and of Zomato Hyperpure at Usatane in Ambernath, the latter on October 15, and issued suspension orders against Reliance Retail Limited at Chakan in Pune and Blinkit Commerce Private Limited at Nighoje. In all, food stock worth more than Rs 5 crore has been seized in the statewide crackdown.
Investigators reported a string of irregularities in the disposal chain: cases where the sender and receiver of goods were the same person, stock transported between states shown as destroyed on the very same day, discrepancies in carton counts and recorded weights, an invoice allegedly issued in the name of a company that did not exist, and establishments that failed to provide vehicle records, weighbridge slips, e-way bills or video evidence to prove the expired food had actually been destroyed.
15 new compliance directives issued
The FDA has issued 15 stringent compliance directives across Maharashtra. Warehouses, supermarkets, dark stores and distribution centres must now maintain separate locked quarantine zones under CCTV surveillance for expired and damaged food, with clear warnings that the products are unfit for human consumption. Food packaging must be slit, crushed or otherwise damaged before disposal, disposal will be permitted only through authorised facilities, and for consignments of 50 kg or more businesses must give advance notice to food safety officials and keep GPS records, weighbridge slips and geo-tagged videos of destruction.
Mundhe warned that strict action will be taken not only against food businesses violating safety rules but also against officials found neglecting their duties. The department said simply handing expired products to a disposal contractor will no longer be accepted as proof of destruction, and companies will remain accountable until the stock is verifiably destroyed. The action is the latest escalation in the FDA's festive-season enforcement drive across Maharashtra; the allegations and regulatory proceedings remain subject to due process.
Source: The DCN