Mumbai: Complaints about food safety, restaurant hygiene and quick-commerce orders are increasingly reaching Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but delays in acting on grievances have prompted the regulator to issue notices after thousands of complaints were escalated to senior officials. The FDA has resolved nearly 72% of the complaints received through its online portal in the three months since its launch.
FDA issues notices over delays
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe launched the portal on July 14 to enable citizens to report food safety and drug-related violations. The system automatically escalates complaints to senior officials if the concerned officers fail to take them up within the stipulated time. The administration has issued notices in connection with 4,068 complaints that were escalated due to delays. “The number of escalated complaints corresponds to a similar number of notices issued to the concerned officials,” said Mundhe.
According to data shared by the FDA, the portal received 13,857 complaints, of which 9,955 have been resolved. Another 2,869 are under investigation, while 1,033 are awaiting the start of an investigation. The median time taken to resolve a complaint is 15.1 days, compared with an average of 18.9 days.
Quick-commerce complaints see increase
Mundhe said the nature of complaints has changed since the portal was launched. Initially, most grievances concerned hotels and restaurants, but complaints related to quick-commerce platforms have increased in recent weeks.
He said the shift could indicate improvements in compliance among restaurants following enforcement action, although the changing complaint pattern alone does not establish that food safety standards have improved.
Festive periods witness complaint spikes
Mundhe also pointed to a rise in complaints during festive periods, when more people eat outside their homes. The FDA observed spikes during Ganeshotsav and the August 15 long weekend, highlighting the need for closer monitoring of food businesses during periods of increased consumer activity.
Food safety dominates grievances
Food-related issues accounted for 93.9% of the complaints received, with 13,017 grievances, while 840 complaints concerned drugs. Among the complaints assessed for severity, 10,452 were classified as high, 1,409 as critical, 1,884 as medium and 112 as low.
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Pune division, covering Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, recorded the highest number of complaints at 4,519, followed by Greater Mumbai, with 3,762 complaints. The Konkan division, covering Thane and Raigad districts, received 2,751 complaints.
Rejected complaints excluded from total
Separately, 11,491 complaints were rejected and were not included in the total received. These included grievances found ineligible during scrutiny or at the initial intake stage, as well as cases that did not qualify as actionable complaints.
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