Before you catch Zomato CEO & Founder Deepinder Goyal on the Netflix series “The Great Indian Kapil Show”, here’s some food for thought: where’s your food coming from?
You may have heard of Zomato as a food delivery platform and it once began as a place where you could read menus of restaurants. But, it has also evolved to become a player in the B2B supply chain space with a vertical called “Hyperpure”. So, Hyperpure supplies restaurants with kitchen products, like poultry, veg, fruits, gourmet stuff, kitchen equipment and more. It may have been a way to eliminate the middleperson. That could ensure that there’s a shorter and safer supply chain, especially when perishables are involved.
It’s a cool two-pronged way to help restaurants with both supplies and deliveries. But, sometimes, things go wrong.
In late October 2024, the Telangana FSSAI (Food Safety & Standards Authority of India) raided a Hyperpure facility in Hyderabad. The Telangana inspectors may have been on high alert, because Diwali was taking place. So, with a potential surge in deliveries during a festive period, there were checks being conducted across the city to make sure everything was copacetic.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for the Hyperpure raid that took place on October 29th 2024.
At the Hyderabad facility, a batch of button mushrooms that weighed about 18 kg were discovered labelled with a packaging date of October 30th 2024. That was a date of packaging one day after the raid took place, so technically, the mushrooms were labelled with a future packing date. Furthermore, according to the Telangana FSSAI, the premises didn’t have proper insect-proof screen, there were houseflies at the facility and some of the food handlers didn’t have hairnets and aprons.
Well, that set off the alarms.
That might perturb some folks who might expect a bit of hygiene and safety, when it comes to the food they consume. It might stop someone mid-bite from consuming their mushroom risotto. Apart from the insect and hairnet issue, if a label is deliberately mishandled, it might be a way to hoodwink people or just a lapse in quality control, because, for many, the manufacturing date and use-by date are sources of comfort.
Of course, Deepinder’s side has to be considered, as well.
In November 2024, he outlined that the mislabel was due to a manual typing error by the vendor, who had been delisted. Deepinder added that there were stringent guidelines and tech systems that helped the Hyperpure team identify the error in time. He didn’t really address the insect and hairnet situation, though.
Deepinder, also, clarified that the Hyperpure warehouse in Hyderabad achieved an A+ rating, which is said to be the highest rating, which might be something to think about, if the reports about the flies and the lack of good hygiene practices are accurate. Deepinder mentioned that the mushrooms worth about ₹7200 were picked on when there were crores of inventory at the warehouse. Not that there’s a strong argument there, but still.
A similar situation was said to have taken place in June 2024 when a Zomato-owned Blinkit warehouse in Hyderabad was raided. Authorities reported that the Blinkit premises were disorganized, unhygienic and dusty.
Of course, it’s not easy to be a food vendor. One has to deal with fresh produce with a limited shelf life and any missteps could lead to food safety risks and even, serious consequences. If Deepinder’s saying that the mislabelled mushrooms were caught by the internal quality control team, then how come the mushrooms were still on-site? Was there a delay in the discarding of the mushrooms?
But, even if one assumes this wasn’t the case, could there have been pressure to meet high demand during the Diwali season? It could have been maliciousness or an oversight. Even if there’s a reactive reaction, like delisting a vendor, what could proactive measures look like to prevent mistakes like this from slipping through the cracks? Does this necessitate more automation in operations to help deal with human errors? Humans might get bored or tired when they have to deal with repetitive tasks for long periods of time.
Are platforms, like Zomato, doing planned and surprise audits to verify compliance in their Hyperpure warehouses? Maybe, there could be audit scores to rate vendors. Or maybe, there could be vendor contracts with clauses to penalize lapses, like wrong labelling or issues with hygiene. That might be a way to incentivize people to adhere to stringent standards. Is this a time for Blockchain to make a star-studded appearance? Could Blockchain help with tracking manufacturing and expiry dates & how things are handled? Or how about some kind of IoT monitoring system at warehouses? Those kinds of sensors just might be able to help with understanding temperature, humidity and maybe, even pest activity. Maybe, if there’s some deviation from pre-determined parameters, red alert!
So, the next time you’re ordering from a restaurant, what’s running through your mind?
