India
‘Food delivered online must have a minimum shelf life of 30% before the expiry date’ | India News – Times of India
For example, if a pack of butter has a shelf life of ten days, it should still have a shelf life of at least three days when delivered to the customer via an e-commerce platform.
In case of food items with a longer shelf life, say three or six months, the FSSAI says, there should be a minimum shelf life of 45 days at the time the item is delivered to the customer.
The apex body for regulating food trade in the country held a meeting on e-commerce Food business operators on Tuesday where this mandate was emphasized and reiterated, sources said.
“There have been complaints in the recent past that food products had negligible shelf life at the time of delivery. That is why we have repeated on the e-commerce food company Operators (FBOs) must adopt practices to ensure a minimum shelf life of 30 percent or 45 days before the expiry date at the time of delivery to consumers,” an official said.
According to sources, FSSAI CEO Ganji Kamala V Rao also warned FBOs at the meeting against filing unsupported claims online. He reiterated the mandate that no FBO shall operate on any e-commerce platform without a valid FSSAI license or registration, emphasizing the critical need for regulatory compliance.
Rao further clarified that all product claims on e-commerce platforms must align with the information on the product labels and comply with FSSAI’s labeling and display regulations.
Moreover, he stressed the importance of supplying food items and non-food items separately to consumers to avoid possible contamination.
