Food Safety Complaints

Food safety refers to handling food in such a way as to prevent any food borne illness. Food safety is a global issue. Often we have seen news on the media that there was a living insect in the food and how the customers sued the restaurant for it. We have also seen how someone ordered Vegetarian food but was delivered chicken instead.

To lessen the burden of the customer, the government formed The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in August 2011 under the Food Safety Standards Act, 2006 as a responsive body for promoting and protecting public health in India.

It is important to note that we should buy packaging foods which have FSSAI marked on it as they are generally safer than the others. There has also been a boon of ordering food online which has led to many food delivery apps namely Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats, Foodpanda etc. People these days generally prefer to order their food online rather than dining out in a restaurant.

Commonly Reported Food Safety Complaints in India

According to a recent survey more than 10% people are left unsatisfied with the food that was delivered through these online food platforms. The most common food complaints include:

- Wrong product delivered
- Stale food delivered
- Less quanity
- Issues with the quality
- Adulteration
- Foreign material in food (insect in food, plastic in food item, mettalic pin in food item etc)
- Refund not provided
- No customer support etc.

So what can be done if you a have food safety complaint in India?

How to resolve Food Safety Complaints in India?

1. Contact Food Aggregator
First and foremost we should immediately try to contact the customer care of these online portals. As they value customer feedback they will try to resolve the complaint as quickly as possible. Some apps even have automated chat bots for the same. The customer care number of some of the most well known food delivery apps in India are :

Swiggy Customer Care Number – 080-67466789
Zomato Customer Care Number - +61 450 266 295
Uber Eats Customer Care Number – 800-253-9377
Foodpanda Customer Care Number – 1800-3000-3034
Dominos Customer Care Number – 734-930-3030
Pizza Hut Customer Care Number – 800-948-8488
Faasos Customer Care Number - +91-7700020020
Just Eat Customer Care Number - 080 6000 0600

2. Report to FSSAI
It has been noticed that sometimes, even these reputed companies close the complaint of a consumer without providing any fruitful solution. So what can be done if their customer support is not providing any solution? Go to FSSAI and file a complaint at https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/cmsweb/HOME.aspx

This is FSSAI website planned to help people facing food related problems. Once you have filed the complaint by attaching all the supporting evidences your complaint will be forwarded to the Food Safety Officer who will then handle your complaint. The customer care number of FSSAI is 1800112100. You can even share your concern here.

3. Send a Legal Notice
If you do not get any response from the food delivering app then you can also send them a Legal Notice to resolve your complaint. You can use Voxya for drafting and sending Legal Notice to them through a professional lawyer.

4. File a Consumer Forum Case
Finally, if you are not getting any resolution then you can raise a complaint at your nearest consumer forum. You need not hire a lawyer to file a case there. You can do it yourself in just 2-3 hours time. We at Voxya help consumers in taking legal action against food delivering apps by sending a legal notice and preparing the case documents to file case in consumer court. So, if you are frustrated, File a complaint today!

Most Common Issue Reported for Food Safety Complaints

Nonveg delivered in place of veg

Item not delivered

Less quantity

Wrong item received

Items were missing

Stale food delivered

Bad packing

Payment deducted but no delivery

Delay in delivery

Credits and coupon not working

Refund not received

No Customer support

Charged twice

Dust particles Hair in food

Amount deducted without our consent (Zomato) ^Open

The company advertised in the media about promo discount and accordingly a product of worth Rs. ***/- was available to the customer at Rs.**/-. The promo was from Zomato and we didn't have any problems with that. But From January onwards they c...

Apr 14, 2019 by Keshab Chandra Goswami

Order cancelled by the company (Zomato) ^Open

I cancelled an order of ₹*** just after * min of ordering. As it was ordered by mistake on Zomato. The amount was deducted from my paytm wallet. After cancellation, the whole amount paid was kept as a penalty and as I cancelled the order it n...

Apr 14, 2019 by Sumit Kumar

Order cancelled without information (Swiggy) ^Open

I have ordered on **th April and these people have cancelled my order after * hour without informing me. They actually have wasted my time in between an hour. Today I have spoken with them. They easily said that refund has been cancelled due to...

Apr 14, 2019 by Ameer Pahadasingh

Incomplete order delivered against full payment (Swiggy) ^Open

I ordered butter soya chap gravy, butter paneer gravy, butter soya chaap masala worth Rs. *** from Sharma Paneer Tikka, Bathinda. An item(butter soya chaap masala) was missing worth Rs.***. I immediately reported the problem to the restaurant a...

Apr 13, 2019 by Gursimran Singh

Refund amount not credited to my account (Swiggy) ^Open

On *th I order for an amount of Rs. ****/. The amount deducted but the payment not done. I called the customer care they assured of refund within *-* days. Till date, no refund done yesterday messaged two of their customer executive. Ms Charula...

Apr 13, 2019 by Uma Shanmugam

Bad quality of food delivered (Swiggy) ^Open

The food delivered was undercooked and extremely cold. I tried contacting swiggy and their restaurant but there was no response from them. Also, I raised a complaint....

Apr 13, 2019 by Ayush Bansal

Company refused for refund (Swiggy) ^Open

A chocolate shake was missing from the food I received and swiggy didn't give my refund for that and neither did they deliver the missing order. They just gave me a Rs ** coupon. ...

Apr 11, 2019 by Kanishk Rathi

Items were missing from the delivery (Swiggy) ^Open

Some Items to be delivered were missing. Their customer support didn't give a satisfactory response. ...

Apr 11, 2019 by M. SAMEER

Refund not received after 15 days (Swiggy) ^Open

I have ordered some food from swiggy on **th March, *.**. App says the order will be delivered within approx ** mins and then says the restaurant has accepted the order and preparing food. Then one delivery guy was assigned but he was too far f...

Apr 11, 2019 by Milind Bharambe

Dead cockroaches found in the food (Swiggy) ^Open

My Swiggy Order no is ***********. I ordered Rajma Rice and Cold Coffee with IceCream. I found *-* cockroaches in Rajma Rice and I don't know how much I had swallowed. I was too scared to open the cold coffee. Want a refund for the whole order ...

Apr 11, 2019 by Nishchhal

Issues in refund (Swiggy) ^Open

I ordered food from bake factory via swiggy and it was undercooked and when I asked for refund swiggy denied it saying their policy does not cover it....

Apr 10, 2019 by Sandeep Chitturi

No refund on food order (Swiggy) ^Open

This is related to poor and bad service of Swiggy for the order no ***********. I had the following issue with the order. *. The order got delivered in almost *hrs after several follow-ups (Where is the timely delivery policy of swiggy?) *....

Apr 10, 2019 by Vikash

Non Veg roll received instead of Veg roll (Uber Eats India) ^Open

I have ordered a Veg Harabhara Kabab roll from Rolls king through Uber eats app and after eating a bite of it I observed the taste is not as it should be. Then I asked my flatmate to check the roll and he confirmed that it is a chicken roll. A...

Apr 10, 2019 by Rohan Sharma

Money not refunded (Swiggy) ^Open

My food order was delivered on **th March and swiggy informed me they can't deliver food after * hour. They denied to refund and gave me false information that refund was done and check with the bank. It's been * weeks. ...

Apr 10, 2019 by Pratap shetty

Charging more than MRP (Bisleri) ^Open

Charging more than MRP. I have sent you a photo of the bottle and the bill. Please do the needful....

Apr 09, 2019 by Gagan singh

Food delivered from different restaurant (Swiggy) ^Open

Order id #***********. I have ordered food from Hyderabad chef via Swiggy. But they delivered from some other hotel. I asked the delivery guy but no proper response. I have a complaint at swiggy support. They gave me a compensation coupon. When...

Apr 09, 2019 by Manikandan

Late delivery and outlet person is abusive (Dominos Pizza) ^Open

I ordered pizza in the scheme on **rd March. Within ** minutes I received notification that the pizza has been delivered but I didn't receive. So I called the outlet. They are abusive. Without listening they are saying refund chahie na mil jaeg...

Apr 05, 2019 by Richa aggarwal

Packing issue with the food (Swiggy) ^Open

The packing used by the restaurant from Swiggy is horrible, in spite of multiple escalations Swiggy is not doing anything to improve the hygiene. It's disgusting to get the food in the condition which is presented to me. Using plastic to send f...

Mar 28, 2019 by Josley jafran vas

Food sent was not sealed (Swiggy) ^Open

The food sent was not sealed and packing was not good in spite of charging for packing. The papad sent was broken and sweet sent was received smashed with little gravy spilt. I had to throw the order and wait for customer care to end up with no...

Mar 22, 2019 by Josley jafran vas

Use of plastic in food (Swiggy) ^Open

Despite my several complaints, swiggy is delivering hot food and beverages in leaking plastic instead of aluminium bags. They are not ready to correct themselves, forget the possibility of getting a refund from this company. I'm very scared as ...

Mar 10, 2019 by Prabhat