Zomato's CEO Deepinder Goyal has clarified after the recent food safety raid in Hyperpure warehouse, Kukatpally in Hyderabad. Taking to X (Formerly Twitter) he wrote, “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. At Hyperpure, we have stringent inward guidelines and tech systems that helped our teams to identify this error in time.”
What actually happened?
After the recent “fake paneer” controversy of Zomato Hyperpure, a raid in one of its Hyderabad warehouses disclosed items with a future printed date of packaging. An inspection conducted by food safety officials on October 29 at Zomato's Hyperpure warehouse in Kukatpally revealed 18 kilos of button mushrooms carrying packing labels dated October 30, 2024. [Source: Deccan Chronicle and Hindustan Times]
In his post, Goyal explained, “We are committed to upholding industry food safety standards and are focused on not compromising on product quality at any stage of the supply chain. The recent food safety inspection at our Hyderabad warehouse resulted in the Hyperpure warehouse achieving an A+ rating, highest benchmark in their ranking.”
Furthermore, he said, “I am not sure why just these small number of mushroom packets worth Rs 7,200 (out of the crores of inventory in the warehouse), which were never going to make it to customers, are being talked about the media, while we got an A+ rating. 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”.”
Incidentally, reports also suggested that the officials found house flies inside the warehouse and found no proper insect-proof screen. Not only that, a few of the food handlers were seen without hair caps and aprons.
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