Legal Compliances for Food Delivery Service Providers in India | FMCG Lawyer in Delhi NCR | FMCG Lawyer in Gurugram | FMCG Lawyer in Noida |

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Food delivery service providers like Zomato, Foodpanda, Swiggy, UberEats, Dunzo, Deliveroo, etc which are also known as Digital Food Business Operators (FBOs) and grocery operators like Big Basket and Grofers are in the boom of business today. These are found to be very convenient platforms where one can just download a mobile application and place their order there and have it delivered at their doorstep. Now, these food delivery businesses have to follow certain regulations with regard to the safety and quality of the food delivered, the concerned person delivering the food, most importantly, the license of the business operator, etc.

However, this platform comes with few problems. Lately there have been many cases where the wrong food was delivered, the delivery personnel eating the food from the delivery boxes, etc. Such incidents call for new rules and regulations and their compliance as incidents like these can lead to the dissatisfaction of the consumer and also lead to the compromise of public health. Legal Compliance is the need of the hour for the proper functioning of these platforms.

Legal compliance or regulatory compliance is a process by which an organization conforms to the rules, regulations, policies, and the law. This is a very important process for any organization as a legal compliance check from time to time keeps it from facing fines, being sued, or even jail time for directors in some jurisdictions. Legal compliance does not just involve understanding the legislations associated with the business but also being able to ensure that the business and its entities are in compliance with the legislations at all times. This means, the business has to maintain a record of checks, it should have policies and procedures around the legislation, and should also have the evidence that people are taking steps and responsibility for compliance.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSSA) came into existence and repealed eight other laws related to food safety. This Act is responsible for monitoring the safety and standards of the food in food businesses. Lately, the FSSA has expanded its scope and now it also includes food delivery services. The government as per the powers given to it under section 91 of the FSSA enacted some rules under the act i.e.

1. Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulation, 2011
2. Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011
3. Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulation, 2011
4. Food Safety and Standards (Laboratory and Sampling Analysis) Regulation, 2011.

Under the FSSA, an autonomous body was created i.e. the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) which is the supreme authority which ensures the hygiene and quality of the food so if a food product has this license it is said to be of optimum quality for consumption. When a food outlet obtains this license they have displayed compliance with basic standards.

There is a very important link between the food delivery services and the food outlets. Food outlets must comply with the safety standards of the food they are cooking and make sure that they are registered under the FSSAI. The Food delivery services on the other hand are a link between the food outlets and the customers. They have to make sure that the restaurants they are delivering from are licensed and registered as per the FSSAI regulations.

In 2018, the FSSAI has issued some amendment regulations to the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business). These regulations provide a list of compliance requirements to the food delivery businesses. These include:

1. Obtaining a license: The compulsory licenses for any food delivery businesses are Shops and Establishment Act license, FSSAI license, Health or trade license, E-commerce agreement, Trademark registration, GST registration, Signage license.
2. License is a two way process: The concerned food delivery business should not only ensure that they have the required licenses but they also have to ensure that the outlets whose food they are delivering also have the license to cook as per the FSSAI Regulations. The food business operator must have a license to cook or be registered with the FSSAI. Lately there were incidents of sub-standard food being delivered to the customers through food delivery services. FSSAI had ordered ten delivery operators to delist the non-registered food operators and comply with the FSSAI regulations. For example, in 2019, Zomato, a food delivery business, de-listed about 5000 restaurants as they were non-compliant with the hygiene standards prescribed by the FSSAI.
3. Prompt Deliveries: The food delivery businesses should also make sure that the deliveries are being provided by trained staff.
4. Agreements: The food delivery businesses must also sign an agreement with the food outlets mentioning that they are in compliance with the FSSAI regulations. They should also make sure that they are licensed and registered with the FSSAI.

The crux of these enactments, legislations, procedures, rules and regulations in the food industry is to ensure that the food is safe and does not cause problems to the public health. With the introduction of services like this, the question of safety arises. It is thus important for these businesses to comply with the regulations made in the interest of public health.
Authored By: Adv. Anant Sharma & Sanjana Akasam