Items with ‘future date of packing’ found at Zomato’s Hyderabad facility

An inspection by food safety officials uncovered concerning irregularities at Zomato’s Hyperpure warehouse in Hyderabad, with items labelled with a "future date of packing". The officials from Commissioner of Food Safety, Telangana, found 18kg of button mushrooms labelled with a packing date of October 30, 2024, even though the inspection occurred on October 29.

Hyperpure, Zomato’s end-to-end supply chain solution for hotels, restaurants, and caterers, provides food businesses with fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, gourmet products, packaging, and kitchen equipment.

Apart from the future date of packing, the officials observed houseflies inside the premises, which were open directly to the outside environment without a proper insect-proof screen. Few of the food handlers were found without haircaps and aprons, according to the state’s Commissioner of Food Safety.

In the past few days, the food safety officials in Telangana have uncovered serious safety violations at several food businesses, including sweet shops in the run-up to Diwali, a momo outlet following health complaints, and multiple shawarma units across the state.

Zomato has yet to comment on the findings at Hyperpure.

In June, the task force inspected a Blinkit warehouse (Zomato’s quick commerce platform) in Medchal Malkajgiri District near Hyderabad, where inspectors identified issues ranging from expired items to pest concerns.

“We take safety and hygiene standards very seriously. We are closely working with our warehouse partner and the Food Safety Department to implement corrective actions from the findings,” NDTV had quoted Blinkit as saying.

The shares of Zomato, listed at ₹116 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on July 23, 2021, were trading at ₹244.10 on Thursday, 17% below their highest price.