E-Commerce Food Beverage Nutraceuticals Health Supplements

Definition of E-commerce:

“E-commerce” known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. E-commerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

“E-commerce FBO” means any Food Business Operator carrying out any of the activities in Section 3(n) of Food Safety & Standard Act, 2006, through the medium of e-commerce.

World is thriving towards digital world and so the Food also been made digitally available to consumers such as online selling of food products and food delivery applications. Zomato, Swiggy, Food Panda, Amazon, Flipkart, Healthkart are known platforms.

Business Model of E-commerce FBO:

E-commerce FBO includes, but not limited to, the following:

• E-commerce entity providing listing services to sellers/brand owners/manufacturers/restaurants on their platform., thereby providing platform for commerce to the sellers, manufacturers, restaurants etc.
• sellers/brand owners/manufacturers, vendors, importers, processors, packagers or manufacturers who display or offer their food products, including food services, catering services, sale of food or food ingredients for sale to the customers, through either the market based model or the inventory based model of e-commerce.
• Operating and providing storage and/or distribution services to the sellers/brand owners, vendors, importers or manufacturer of food products listed on their market place.
• Providing transportation services to the sellers/brand owner, vendors, importers or manufacturers of the food products and/or providing last mile delivery transportation to the end customers.

Regulatory Requirements:

1. Registration and Licensing
   • E-commerce FBOs have to obtain FSSAI License from the Central Licensing Authority for the entire supply chain.
   • E-commerce entities shall clearly specify on their platform that liability of any violation of the FSS Act and applicable Rules and Regulations made thereunder would be with the sellers/importers or manufacturers of the food products.
2. Supply Chain Compliance
   • Every Food Business Operators shall ensure that the articles of food safety the requirements of the Act and the Rules and Regulation made thereunder at all stages of production, processing, import, distribution and sale within the businesses under his control.
   • All e-commerce FBOs are required to sign an agreement with the sellers/brand owners/manufacturers averring that the said ‘sellers/brand owners/manufacturers’ are complaint with FSS Act and Rules and Regulations made thereunder.
3. Food Product Listing and Information 
   • Picture of the ‘Principal display panel’ should be legible and clear of such pre-packed food is made available for viewing by the customers. The principal display panel excluding batch number/lot number, best before, expiry date and MRP shall be displayed.
   • The sellers/brand owners/manufacturers dealing in fresh produce will provide an indicative image of the same produce to the e-commerce FBOs for displaying on their platform to enable the consumers to help recognize the product.
   • The sellers/brand owners/manufacturers on the e-commerce platform shall be required to display their License/Registration obtained under the FSS Act and Regulations.
   • Mandatory food information mentioned in the FSS Act, Rules and Regulations made thereunder shall be provided to the consumers without charging supplementary costs. The relevant mandatory food information should also be available before the purchase is concluded.
   • The food products offered for sale by any e-commerce FBO shall be liable to sampling at any point of the supply chain.
   • The term ‘sellers/brand owners/manufacturers’ used here should be read to mean sellers/brand owners/restaurants/ vendor/ importer/processor/packager/manufacturer responsible for the listing of their product/offering on the e-commerce platform and will be visible to the end customer as the ‘seller’ of the said product/offering.
4. Liability of FBO
   • All the FBOs i.e.  sellers/brand owners/restaurants/ vendor/ importer/processor/packager/manufacturer etc. shall comply with the basic hygiene and sanitary practices mentioned in the Schedule IV of the Food Safety and Standards, Regulation 2011.
5. Handling of Customer Complaints 
   • Complaints relating to product efficacy, quality or any other issues will be notified immediately by e-commerce FBO to the sellers/brand owners/ importer/manufacturing company concerned for expeditious resolution.
   • The consumer will also be redirected to the consumer call center of the manufacturer so that consumer directly pursues the matter further.
   • The sellers/brand owners/ vendor/ importer or manufacturers as the case may be, will be liable and bound to take action on the complaint raised by the consumer. The e-commerce FBO will cooperate with the consumers to enable the satisfactory resolution of the complaint by sharing with him all relevant information including seller/brand owner/manufacturer details.
   • Consumer complaints shall be redressed as per the timeline prescribed by Ministry of Consumer Affairs from time to time.
6. Responsibility of E-Commerce FBO towards Recall
   • The e-commerce FBO/entities shall immediately delist any products listed on their platform, which are not in compliance with the FSS Act, Rules and Regulations, made thereunder.

To know more about FSSAI Licensing, Process to obtain Fssai License, Eligibility Criteria, Licensing Condition, Mandatory Display Boards, Labelling, Testing requirements refer Licensing, Labelling and Resource Section, Chat with ASK THE EXPERT.