Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal on Monday clarified that the 18kg mushroom packed with incorrect dates in the company's Hyderabad warehouse was already identified by the warehouse team and rejected during a quality control check.
This comes after Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials inspected Zomato's Hyperpure warehouse in Kukatpally on October 29 and found the button mushrooms carrying packing labels of October 30, 2024.
"Hello all - just want to clarify that the FSSAI team noted that 90 packets of button mushrooms had incorrect packaging date - these were already identified by our warehouse team and were rejected during an inward QC," Goyal wrote on X. "This is not usual, and was due to a manual typing error on the vendor’s side. Still, the concerned vendor has been delisted from our database."
He added that the company has stringent inward guidelines and tech systems that helped the Zomato teams to identify the error on time. The recent food safety inspection also resulted in the warehouse achieving an A+ rating, Goyal shared.
He also lashed out at media houses for highlighting the rejected mushroom packets worth Rs 7,200 out of the crores of inventory in the warehouse.
"Maybe some people benefit from the virality which they get at the expense of pulling down the Zomato brand. And maybe we all love to believe the narrative that 'all big business is bad business'," Goyal said.
According to reports by Deccan Chronicle and Hindustan Times, although the warehouse was operating with proper licences exhibited at noticeable places, it did not have any insect-proof screens to avoid entry of insects, which led to houseflies being found all over the premises. Some food handlers were found without haircaps and aprons.
All these shortcomings were noticed despite the Food Business Operator (FBO) having its license, medical fitness certificates for food handlers, and pest control records, the reports added.
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