The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has suspended the food business operating licence of quick-commerce platform Blinkit’s warehouse in Bhiwandi after identifying severe compliance failures involving expired, damaged, and rejected food items valued at over Rs 32.71 lakh. Acting on an official complaint filed by the regulatory authority, local police also registered a First Information Report naming a director of Blink Commerce Private Limited, warehouse operations managers, and several scrap disposal contractors. The enforcement measure followed an on-site audit that uncovered systemic failures to track or verify the mandatory destruction of 18,405 consumable products deemed unfit for human consumption.
Audit Uncovers Missing Destruction Records and Inventory Gaps
During a detailed regulatory inspection conducted on October 21, food safety officers discovered that facility operators could not provide basic traceability documentation for thousands of rejected stock units. Department inspectors found that the facility had catalogued 18,405 food items as expired, damaged, or otherwise unmarketable, yet managers failed to establish an auditable paper trail verifying where those items went. Furthermore, the company failed to furnish certificates or secondary verification proving that the discarded consumables had been physically destroyed under established food safety standards.
State food safety regulators raised serious alarms over the missing records, noting that untracked inventory creates acute risks of condemned stock leaking back into retail distribution channels. Regulators emphasized that without strict custody verification, discarded food poses grave hazards to public health and retail consumers. Citing direct threats of unauthorized market diversion, the regulatory authority issued an immediate order directing the Bhiwandi facility to halt all licensed commercial activities on the premises until further notice.
Police Lodge Criminal Complaint Against Company Executives and Vendors
Following the administrative closure, the department escalated the findings to law enforcement by submitting a formal complaint at the Bhiwandi Taluka Police Station. The resulting police report booked a whole-time director of Blink Commerce Private Limited, multiple on-site warehouse managers, and external scrap management vendors under criminal conspiracy and cheating provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Investigating officers also invoked Section 59(1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which penalizes the handling and distribution of unsafe food.
Investigators are pursuing evidence that rejected consumables were funneled back into commercial supply networks rather than destroyed, allegedly generating illicit financial margins through unauthorized resale. Police officials have stated that the registration of the formal complaint initiates an active probe rather than a finding of legal guilt, with specific individual culpabilities to be established through ongoing inquiries.
Broad Enforcement Drive Scrutinizes Waste Chains Across Distribution Hubs
The action against Blinkit forms part of a wider statewide operation by the Maharashtra food authority aimed at auditing storage hubs, quick-commerce fulfillment centers, and associated scrap handling vendors. Regulatory bodies suspect that expired products discarded by primary suppliers are frequently bought by intermediaries and routed to neighborhood discount groceries and local merchants. In connected inquiries, authorities have registered criminal cases against ten individuals associated with food firms, storage depots, disposal operators, and wholesale traders.
The Bhiwandi enforcement action highlights growing regulatory scrutiny over rapid-delivery supply chains, where high-volume distribution centers manage significant quantities of perishable goods daily. Regulators have affirmed that ongoing inquiries will establish whether the missing documentation stemmed from procedural negligence or deliberate diversion schemes. For the present, the regulatory suspension and police investigation have placed inventory disposal standards across online grocery platforms under heightened oversight.
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