The Food and Drug Administration has suspended the food safety licences of warehouses operated by Reliance Retail and Blinkit in Pune district after inspections found serious shortcomings in the storage, hygiene, cold-chain management and disposal of expired and spoiled food products.
The inspections were conducted on October 14 at a Reliance Retail warehouse in Chakan and a Blinkit Commerce Private Limited warehouse in Nighoje, both in Khed taluka. The FDA said the companies could not provide verifiable evidence that expired and spoiled food items had been properly disposed of.
At the Reliance Retail warehouse, inspectors found rat droppings, expired and spoiled products stored together, and cockroach infestation in some areas, according to the report. The inspection also found workers spitting within the premises. The company submitted an agreement with a disposal contractor, but the FDA said it could not establish through verifiable records that the stock had actually been disposed of.
The Reliance Retail warehouse licence was consequently suspended. The action relates to the handling and disposal of food stock, rather than only to the presence of expired products. For large warehouses serving urban retail networks, records showing the movement and final disposal of rejected stock are a key part of demonstrating that such items do not re-enter the supply chain.
At the Blinkit warehouse in Nighoje, the temperature in a cold room was found to be above five degrees Celsius, while cold-chain records were not available for verification. Inspectors also found 50 kilograms of Tata Salt and 60 kilograms of semolina stored directly on the floor. Leaking packages and cockroach infestation were reported at the facility.
The inspection further found that only five of the approximately 600 employees at the Blinkit warehouse had certificates showing completion of food safety training. The company also failed to provide evidence of the disposal of expired stock, following which its food safety licence was suspended on October 15.
The findings highlight the regulatory importance of warehouses that support app-based grocery delivery and organised retail in Pune’s expanding urban and industrial belt. These facilities connect manufacturers and distributors to neighbourhood consumers, making storage conditions, traceability and disposal documentation part of the wider food-safety chain.
The FDA’s action is based on the conditions recorded during the inspections and the companies’ inability, according to the report, to produce documents verifying disposal. The suspended licences affect the two identified warehouse operations in Chakan and Nighoje. Further compliance steps will depend on the regulatory process and the companies’ response to the findings.
