Ordered From Blinkit or Zepto? Check This Before You Accept It

— Surya Prakash Josyula

It is night. The kids are hungry and waiting for something to eat.

You quickly open Blinkit, Zepto or another quick-commerce app and place an order. Within minutes, the doorbell rings.

A small package arrives at your doorstep. “That was fast!” you think, happily take the package inside and give it to the kids.

But there is one important question. Who made that product? Where was it stored? And has its expiry date already passed?

Most customers never think about these things. There is a simple assumption: “I ordered it through a trusted app, so it must be safe.”

Recent incidents are now challenging that assumption.

Imagine a food product reaching your home in just 10 minutes, but the product has already expired. Or imagine that the same product was stored in a poorly maintained warehouse where hygiene was a serious concern. The delivery may be fast, but the consequences of a food-safety failure can last much longer.

That concern has come into focus after Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration conducted inspections at dark stores operated by quick-commerce companies. Officials reportedly found expired products being stored and sold. They also found poor hygiene conditions at some locations, including cockroach infestations. Videos showing the condition of some warehouses later went viral on social media, adding to consumer concerns.

Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has now given consumers a simple but important message. If an online food product does not clearly display its manufacturing or expiry date, consumers should refuse to accept the delivery.

The message is important for the entire quick-commerce industry. The business may be built around speed, convenience and 10-minute delivery. But food-safety rules do not change just because a product is delivered faster.

For consumers, the lesson is equally simple. Before opening that package, check the manufacturing date, expiry date and condition of the packaging. If something looks suspicious, take a photograph, keep the bill and report it to the authorities.

Because a 10-minute delivery is a convenience.

Knowing what is inside that package is a matter of consumer safety.