A food safety case in Maharashtra has named more than 10 executives linked to Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Zomato’s Hyperpure and quick-commerce platform Blinkit after the state Food and Drugs Administration seized food products worth Rs 48.09 lakh during a multi-district crackdown.
The FDA alleged that expired, damaged and rejected food products were diverted and sold. The FIR was registered at Shanti Nagar police station in Thane under relevant provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, according to the Economic Times report.
Blinkit chief executive officer Albinder Dhindsa has been named in the FIR. Executives named from Reliance Consumer Products include V Subramaniam, Ashok Kumar Singh, Vijay Bhikaji Kharmale and Nilesh Ramdasrao Deshmukh. The report also identifies executives associated with Reliance Retail and Zomato’s Hyperpure among those named in the case.
The allegations relate to the handling and sale of food products within a retail and delivery system that increasingly depends on warehouses, dark stores and rapid last-mile fulfilment. The reported action places food storage, inventory controls and regulatory oversight under scrutiny as more consumers purchase groceries and packaged food through digital platforms.
Reliance Consumer Products, the fast-moving consumer goods arm of Reliance Industries, sells products including Campa soft drinks, Joyland flavoured milk, SIL jams and Lotus chocolates. The companies named in the FIR have not, according to the report, responded to emails seeking comment from Reliance Consumer Products and Zomato by the time of publication.
The FIR records allegations and does not establish guilt. The investigation will determine the source of the products, how they were stored and distributed, and whether the alleged diversion involved individual outlets, warehouses or wider supply-chain processes. The case also brings attention to the administrative challenge of monitoring food safety across conventional retailers, delivery platforms and dark stores operating across multiple urban jurisdictions.
The Maharashtra FDA has been conducting a broader food safety crackdown across the state. The reported enforcement activity has included notices to, or licence suspensions involving, restaurants, clubs and quick-commerce dark stores, with Domino’s Pizza, Olympia Coffee House and Cafe Mondegar among the establishments mentioned in the report. Further action in the current case will depend on the police investigation and the FDA’s regulatory proceedings.
