FSSAI sent nine notices to Swiggy Instamart over consumer complaints of expired, spoiled, and contaminated deliveries, plus licensing and grievance-handling failures.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued nine notices to Swiggy Instamart, the quick-commerce arm of Bengaluru-based Swiggy Ltd, citing consumer complaints about expired, spoiled, and contaminated food products delivered through the platform.
FSSAI announced the notices on its official X (formerly Twitter) account. The complaints span multiple product categories and sellers, and the regulator has given Swiggy Instamart a fixed period to submit a detailed compliance report. Failure to do so could trigger action under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. This came one day after Swiggy separately disclosed a prohibition order from FSSAI dated July 6 concerning Toing, its food delivery platform, though Swiggy said that matter involved only a licence-update formality and carried no food safety concerns. Swiggy told stock exchanges it received a modified FSSAI licence for Toing on July 9 with no monetary penalty.
What the nine notices actually allege
The complaints documented by FSSAI cover a range of products and problems.
Eggs sold under the "NOICE" brand were allegedly marketed under a brand name not covered by the seller's existing FSSAI licence. FSSAI directed the food business operator to stop selling that product until a valid licence covered it.
Healthify 100% whey protein and NOICE homestyle Madras mixture with peanuts were allegedly delivered past their expiry dates. Akshayakalpa Organic Eggs and Kakke da Paratha were reportedly delivered in rotten or spoiled condition with a foul smell. In a separate and more serious case, an infant food formulation arrived in a deteriorated and unsafe state. FSSAI flagged signs of contamination and improper storage. The same product was reportedly dispatched again after the consumer returned the defective item, which suggests a systemic failure rather than a one-off error.
Other complaints involved contaminated eggs and milk, and damaged packaged food products. Across several cases, FSSAI noted that consumers had escalated complaints but received no corrective action. In one instance, a consumer was offered a refund without any follow-up on the underlying food safety issue.
Beyond individual product failures, FSSAI raised structural concerns: incorrect, invalid, or non-existent licence numbers on the platform, and mismatches between the names of food businesses listed on Instamart and those recorded in regulatory filings. The notices flag potential gaps in seller onboarding, compliance verification, traceability, stock rotation, storage and handling, and the overall adequacy of Instamart's food safety controls.
FSSAI has asked Swiggy Instamart to provide documentary evidence on all alleged violations, details of its quality assurance and inventory management practices, a root cause analysis, and corrective and preventive measures already taken.
Why this matters for anyone buying groceries online
Quick commerce platforms operate on a model where speed is the selling point. Dark stores hold inventory for 10-minute delivery windows, which compresses the time available for stock rotation checks and expiry-date verification. When that model works well, it is genuinely convenient. When it fails, the consequences can be serious: expired protein supplements, spoiled organic eggs, and, in the most troubling case here, an unsafe infant formula delivered twice to the same household.
The FSSAI notices are not convictions. They are show-cause notices, meaning Swiggy Instamart has the right to respond with evidence before any penalty is imposed. The regulator has not yet published the full text of each notice or the specific deadlines, so the exact compliance timeline is not publicly confirmed.
What is confirmed is that FSSAI is treating this as a platform-level accountability issue, not just a seller-level one. The regulator's language around seller onboarding and grievance redressal puts the onus on Instamart itself, not only on the individual food business operators listing products on the app. That is a meaningful shift in how regulators are thinking about marketplace liability for food safety.
This is also the second FSSAI action against Swiggy entities in two days, which makes it harder for the company to frame either incident as isolated.
What buyers should do right now
If you order groceries through Swiggy Instamart or any quick-commerce platform, a few habits reduce your exposure to the problems described in these notices.
Check the expiry date on every packaged product the moment it arrives, before putting it away. For products with short shelf lives, such as eggs, dairy, and fresh produce, inspect the packaging for damage, odour, or signs of spoilage before use. Photograph the product and its label if something looks wrong: this is the evidence FSSAI asks consumers to provide when filing complaints.
If you receive a product that appears expired or unsafe, do not accept a refund as the only resolution. Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, selling food past its use-by date is a violation. You can file a complaint directly with FSSAI through the Food Safety Connect app or the FSSAI consumer helpline. A refund closes your transaction; a complaint creates a record that regulators can act on.
For infant formula and other products used by vulnerable groups, the stakes are higher. The FSSAI notice specifically flagged contamination and improper storage in an infant food case. Parents buying formula or baby food through quick-commerce apps should check lot numbers and manufacturing dates, and avoid purchasing products where the outer packaging is dented, swollen, or shows any sign of temperature damage.
Swiggy Instamart has not issued a public statement on the nine notices as of the time of writing. Inc42 reported the notices on July 11, 2026, based on FSSAI's post on X. FSSAI has not released the full text of each notice or confirmed the exact response deadline publicly.