The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued official regulatory notices to major corporate entities, including Nestlé India, KFC, and e-commerce giant Flipkart, following a series of consumer complaints regarding hygiene lapses and product contamination, according to an NDTV Profit report.
The apex food safety regulator initiated the action after taking cognizance of grievance reports circulating across social media platforms, highlighting the watchdog’s increasing reliance on digital monitoring to detect public health risks and trigger fast-track enforcement investigations.
FSSAI served a notice following allegations that insects or larvae were discovered inside a packet of Maggi instant noodles. The multinational has been mandated to submit an exhaustive Action Taken Report (ATR). This must include batch-level quality control logs, raw material supplier verification, immediate corrective measures to recall the affected batch, and structural updates to prevent manufacturing recurrence.
A separate complaint alleged that a package of dates ordered via Flipkart’s quick-commerce arm was contaminated with insects. The notice, issued to both the marketplace platform and the packaged food brand Open Secret, demands the immediate submission of internal quality control records, inventory tracking, and proof of corrective protocols to withdraw the compromised stock from distribution.
A brick-and-mortar outlet of the fast-food giant in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, was served a notice over alleged on-premise unhygienic conditions. The regulator has demanded extensive operational documentation covering its kitchen hygiene indices, cold storage and food handling practices, pest control compliance, waste management systems, and employee sanitization workflows.
The FSSAI clarified that the issuance of these notices is an administrative, fact-finding mechanism and does not legally establish corporate wrongdoing or product liability at this preliminary stage.
The companies involved have been given a strict timeline to submit their comprehensive technical defenses, internal audit logs, and supporting documentation. The regulator will evaluate these responses before determining whether to escalate the matter to formal adjudication, product bans, or financial penalties.