FSSAI's Latest Clarification Could Affect Every Online Grocery Shopper

In 2024, FSSAI has already formally issued a warning to certain commerce and e-commerce platforms not to sell products without best-before dates.

Recently, after the reports by Local Circles, concern rises over the products being sold in online grocery shops without specifying the expiry or best-before dates.

In response to the Local Circles submission, FSSAI has stated that the responsibility of enforcing the best-before dates, or use-by dates by the online grocery platform is rested with the Department of Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology.

Further in the study conducted by Local Circles, it was understood that the customers still couldn’t find the expiry date of expiry that is to be mentioned on packages. Further the reports suggest that 48 percent of online grocery platforms are found to be non-compliant with respect to the display of expiry dates.

Key Highlights

• Consumers continue to find difficulty in expiry date disclosure
• FSSAI warned certain e-commerce platforms not to sell products without displaying the date of expiry
• FSSAI states that the enforcement of the display comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology authorities

The online platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Milkbasket, and JioMart were found not using the best-before-use dates for their online selling products. Whereas platforms like Big Basket, Amazon Now, Flipkart Minutes are found to be consistent in the display of expiry dates. That is, five out of eight online grocery apps appear to be non-compliant.

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Speaking of the Law

FSSAI is responsible for regulating the production and marketing of the food sold in the country, which functions under the Union Ministry of Health. Also, the food packaging in India is governed by two important frameworks, the Food Safety Standard Regulations 2018 and the Food Safety Standard Regulations 2020.

These rules clearly specify the packaging materials to be used, also the information that must appear on the labels, and the claims that companies can make. This clearly states that the brand name of claims should not mislead consumers.

The law, under the Legal Metrology Amendment Rules, 2017, states that all packaged human consumption items listed on online grocery sites or apps must be displayed with the “Best Before or Use by dates” with day, month, and year clearly. 

This clearly states that all mandatory labels must be given before the sale or purchase is completed. That also includes Date of manufacture, Date of packing and the batch number as well. Following the warning issued by FSSAI, the platforms were also asked to list products meeting the 30 percent or 45 day criteria of shelf life.

Whereas the reports show that consumers are raising concerns over products sold on online grocery apps that have less shelf life for more discounts, thereby violating the rule of 30 percent or 45 days. The most common example is of the bread delivered with 1-2 days of shelf life left, whereas the average is 5-7 days.