Expired Food — Quick Commerce

The problem

You ordered groceries from Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, or BigBasket and received expired, contaminated, or mislabelled food products. The platform offered a small refund and closed your complaint — but selling expired food is actually a criminal offence.

Your legal rights

• FSSA 2006 §59: Selling unsafe or expired food is a criminal offence — up to 6 months imprisonment + ₹5 lakh fine.
• FSSA §§26 & 27: Food Business Operators must maintain quality standards and proper labelling.
• FSSAI Labelling & Display Regulations 2020: All packaged food must display manufacture date, expiry/best-before date, and FSSAI license number.
• Quick commerce = FBO: Platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart are Food Business Operators and must hold FSSAI licenses. They are jointly liable.
• CPA 2019: Additionally, this is deficiency in service — claim refund + compensation.

How to escalate

1. Preserve the expired product and take photos of the packaging, expiry date, and FSSAI license.
2. Report to the local Food Safety Officer (FSO) of your district.
3. Send a legal notice to the platform and the manufacturer citing FSSA §§26, 27, 59.
4. File on e-daakhil.nic.in (Consumer Commission) for refund + compensation for health risk.