FSSAI suspends Delhi-based Marche Retail licence over food safety lapses, Daman ghee sales banned

FSSAI suspends Marche Retail licence, bars SDP Industries from selling ghee over safety violations

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has suspended the licence of Delhi-based Marche Retail Pvt Ltd for 30 days and issued a prohibition order to Daman-based SDP Industries Pvt Ltd, barring it from selling all variants of ghee. The actions were announced in a social media post on Sunday, as reported by CNBC TV18 and The Times of India.

According to the regulator, Marche Retail's licence was suspended after serious non-compliances were detected during inspection and subsequent follow-up scrutiny of its food business premises. The establishment was found operating with "deficiencies relating to design, operational controls, sanitation, personal hygiene, food-handler training and mandatory record-keeping during the inspection," FSSAI said. The company has been directed to "cease and desist" from all food business activities and rectify the identified shortcomings.

In the case of SDP Industries, the prohibition order was issued over "non-compliant ghee products and adulteration concerns." During enforcement inspection and sample examination, the company's multiple ghee products, including variants marketed under brands such as "Shraddha", "Shree Saras", and "Gokul", were found non-compliant with applicable requirements under the FSS Act, 2006. Laboratory analysis of the ghee samples detected A-sitosterol, a plant sterol that is required to be absent in ghee, along with non-conformity in the fatty-acid composition. The findings were indicative of the presence of foreign/vegetable fats, FSSAI said, raising serious food safety concerns.

SDP Industries has been directed to immediately stop selling all variants of ghee manufactured, stored, or sold from its authorised premises, and to ensure that the prohibited products are not placed in the market or sold to consumers until further orders.

Broader enforcement drive

The actions against Marche Retail and SDP Industries are part of a wider enforcement push by the FSSAI. On Saturday, the regulator said it had issued 150 notices to food companies in recent months over misleading advertisements, false claims, and labelling non-compliances. The companies that received notices included Nestle India, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola India, Abbott India Ltd, Red Bull India, Danone India, Monster Energy India Pvt Ltd, Hell Energy Pvt Ltd, Mondelez India, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Ferrero India, and Kenvue Inc.

Additionally, FSSAI issued 12 notices to e-commerce companies Amazon and Flipkart, and cancelled one Amazon warehouse licence. More than 30 notices were issued to food service establishments, including KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Costa Coffee, with five licences of Domino's suspended. Earlier this week, FSSAI said several companies had started taking corrective actions following the notices issued against them.

Both CNBC TV18 and The Times of India reported the suspensions and the prohibition order with similar detail, attributing the information to FSSAI's social media post and statements. The regulator's actions come amid heightened scrutiny of food safety compliance across the industry.