As many as 10,500 restaurants have been delisted by e-commerce firms like Zomato and Swiggy for not having licence or registration under the food safety law, Parliament was told on Friday.
Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in July directed the firms to delist the the restaurants which don’t have registration under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006.
“The Food delivery aggregators informed that they have already initiated action against the defaulting partner hotels/restaurants. As per information received, Zomato has delisted 2,500, Swiggy 4,000, Foodpanda 1,800, UberEats 2,000 and FoodCloud 200 unlicensed/unregistered FBOs [food business operators],” he said in reply to a question.
The implementation and enforcement of the FSS Act, 2006 Rules and Regulations made thereunder, primarily rests with State and UT (Union Territory) governments, he said.
Commissioner of Food Safety of all States and UTs have been requested to take necessary action to bring all such FBOs under the ambit of FSS Act through registration.
No one shall commence or carry on any food business without licence or registration under the Act, he said.
Mr. Choubey stated further that regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of food products were carried out by officials to check compliance of the standards and norms.
In case where food samples were found to be non- conforming, penal action had been initiated, he stated.
