THE Maharashtra FDA has suspended the licences of five warehouses of Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Zomato Hyperpure and Blinkit after detecting that expired, damaged and rejected food products of over Rs 48 lakh were allegedly being routed back into the market, officials said. In its official statement issued on Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had seized 8,392 kilograms of stock valued at Rs 48,08,924 during a special operation conducted in Thane and Pune districts on October 14 and 15.

 

The action followed suspicions that expired, damaged, rejected and packaging-damaged food products, instead of being destroyed through authorised channels, were being resold through intermediaries, local vendors and disposal agencies, it said. The licences of the warehouses of Reliance Consumer Products Ltd and Reliance Retail Ltd at Wadpe in Bhiwandi, Zomato Hyperpure Pvt Ltd at Usatane in Ambernath, Reliance Retail at Chakan in Pune district and Blinkit Commerce Pvt Ltd at Nighoje in Pune district. The FDA also ordered two unlicensed establishments to stop operations and initiated separate action against them for conducting business without the requisite food safety registration or licence. The investigation covered warehouses, disposal centres and retail outlets in Bhiwandi, Ambernath and Khed taluka of Pune district. Seven teams carried out coordinated inspections after gathering intelligence between September 23 and October 5.