Food safety officials inspected Zomato’s Hyperpure warehouse in Sakalawara, Bengaluru, on Tuesday, August 11, following an intensified crackdown on food storage facilities in the city.
The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) found lapses involving food labelling, licensing and storage, although officials said the premises itself was clean and tidy.
Among the findings were 146 kg of chicken without the manufacturer’s FSSAI licence number, 40 kg of garlic sourced from a manufacturer whose licence was not in force, and alleged mislabelling involving 300 kg of rice, 20 kg of dry fruits and 15 kg of masala.
Officials also found 10 kg of imported radish pickle stored without the refrigeration required under its labelling conditions. The department collected 40 samples for examination, issued a notice to the unit and said further legal action would follow.
What Officials Found At The Warehouse
The inspection focused on products stored and supplied through Hyperpure, Zomato’s food-supply business that caters to food-service establishments. Officials found several compliance concerns despite the overall cleanliness of the premises.
The 146 kg of chicken did not carry the manufacturer’s FSSAI licence number, while the licence of the manufacturer supplying 40 kg of garlic was reportedly not valid.
The inspection team also flagged alleged labelling irregularities involving 300 kg of rice, 20 kg of dry fruits and 15 kg of masala. In another finding, 10 kg of imported radish pickle was being stored without refrigeration, despite its label requiring it to be kept in a refrigerated area.
The FDA collected 40 samples, including five legal samples and 35 survey samples, for further examination.
Inspection Comes Amid Wider Food Safety Crackdown
The action at Hyperpure came a day after Karnataka’s FDA sealed a Zepto warehouse in Bengaluru Rural over alleged food safety violations, signalling closer scrutiny of large warehouses and food distribution centres rather than only restaurants and hotel kitchens.
The latest inspection is also significant given Hyperpure’s role in supplying food and other products to hotels and other food businesses. The company has faced food-safety scrutiny before. In 2024, an inspection of a Hyperpure facility in Hyderabad found 90 packets of button mushrooms carrying an incorrect future packaging date.
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said at the time that the products had already been rejected during the warehouse’s inward quality-control process and attributed the incorrect date to a vendor’s manual typing error. He also said the vendor had been delisted.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Food safety is not merely a regulatory requirement; it is a basic responsibility towards everyone who eats or depends on the food supply chain. In a country as large and diverse as India, where millions rely on organised and unorganised food systems every day, even minor lapses in hygiene, storage, or labelling can have far-reaching consequences.
Large distribution centres handle products at a massive scale, often moving goods across multiple vendors, warehouses, and delivery networks, which means that even seemingly small errors can quickly multiply and affect a wide range of businesses and end consumers.
At the same time, regulatory action should remain evidence-based, transparent and proportionate, allowing companies a fair opportunity to address deficiencies while ensuring accountability where violations are established.
Clear communication of findings, consistent enforcement standards, and timely follow-ups are essential to ensure that inspections lead to meaningful improvements rather than confusion or reputational damage alone.
The latest inspection should therefore serve as a constructive reminder for the industry to strengthen internal quality controls, invest in better training for staff handling food products, and adopt more robust tracking systems for storage conditions and labelling accuracy.
Rather than becoming a blame game, such incidents should push all stakeholders towards collaboration and continuous improvement. What more can food businesses and regulators do together to make India’s rapidly expanding food supply chains safer and more accountable?
Also Read: Bengaluru’s Indira Canteens Under FDA Scanner: One Kitchen Sealed, 3 Face Food Safety Action
