Zomato, Swiggy, Bigbasket, Grocers and UberEats along with others are the constant support of system of most teenagers today. They deliver all types of foods at mostly any required time to various areas. Bigbasket provides all type of Indian and gourmet grocery for domestic households.

However, the Indian government seems to be on the spree of changing or establishing various rules for these E-commerce industries.

It recently established some for online sellers and now it’s time for our very own food delivery apps.

Who and why?

The FSSAI has taken this decision to ensure safety and control over the food delivered. They already have existing rules for various restaurants and cafes and now are targeting the new E-commerce delivery chain to ensure further safety in consumption.

What?

These are new guidelines coming into place as a follow-up after an already existing step in October 2018 by these delivery apps to delist around 10500 restaurants due to non-compliance with FSSAI requirements.
1) Anytime sampling and checking of the food and the delivery process
2) Fresh food delivery only.
3) Mandatory information regarding FSSAI Act to be provided to the consumer
4) Food shelf life of 30% or 45 days after time of delivery.
5) Only trained personnel should be employed for last-mile delivery
6) Safety of food products should be given the utmost importance.

While a few of these guidelines are improvised versions of already existing rules, they might seem blurry and leave room for loop holes. However, it does prove that the Government is modernizing its rules and requirements with changing times.

Response?

Zomato has led the comment section regarding this latest development. They are very supportive towards this decision and agree regarding its advantages. Moreover, they also focused on mentioning their already FSSAI compliant delivery process. This is probably a good way to avoid customer loss. Grofers also mentioned their existing focus on Last-mile delivery and shelf life requirements. They are in terms with this decision. However, other companies have not responded yet.

Possible impacts?

1) Further delisting of various restaurants from these apps.
2) Better consumer awareness regarding the food that one orders.
3) Pictorial description in all apps (Swiggy had already established this sometime back)
4) Better quality and packaging of delivered food
5) Prices for delivery may go up due to the new efforts and changes happening
6) Restaurants will need to work equally hard regarding delivery like their dine-in variants.