"Just like we check dates and take goods from a shop, the same will be visible and purchasable online too." That's FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani, as reported by NDTV Profit and picked up by Inshorts, speaking about quick commerce apps. He also reportedly said no expired items will be sold on these platforms.
The deadline for platforms to show food labels and expiry details is 30 September 2026. That's tomorrow. If you sell packaged food through quick commerce, either as a brand, a seller or a platform, your product listings are now part of your compliance file. A missing expiry date on a screen is no longer just a design gap. It's an enforcement risk that a regulator has put a date on.
What Was Ordered and When
According to Inshorts, citing NDTV Profit, the direction was reported on 2 September 2026. Quick commerce platforms must show expiry dates for products so that an online buyer sees what a shopper would see on a shelf. The reported deadline is 30 September 2026. Bundle, another news aggregator, carries the same headline about food labels and expiry details.
This sits inside a wider push. RetailIntel, reporting on 11 September 2026, says an enforcement drive from April to August 2026 covered about 7.05 lakh inspections and 13,203 raids, along with 677 licence suspensions, 105 registration suspensions and seizures valued at ₹42.01 crore. We found those figures in only one source, so treat them as reported, not confirmed.
Other outlets describe what inspectors have found on the ground. Open magazine reported that inspections at two luxury hotels in Delhi's Aerocity turned up 87 kilograms of expired sweets, 59 deficiencies at one hotel, and food products without required FSSAI licences. The Express Tribune reported a 1 September 2026 warehouse raid by Maharashtra food commissioner Tukaram Mundhe's team that reportedly uncovered fake expiry dates and nutritional information.
What "Show the Label Online" Really Involves
Online sellers have always had label duties under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations. What's changing is how visible those details must be at the point of sale.
For a shopper standing in a shop, the pack is in their hand. On an app, the listing is the pack. Reports suggest FSSAI expects the same information a shopper would read on the pack to be available before purchase, with expiry at the front of that list. In practice, sellers should look at whether these are visible and correct on the product page:
- Product name and the list of ingredients
- Nutritional information
- Veg or non-veg mark
- Best before or use by date, and the manufacturing date where the label carries it
- FSSAI licence number of the manufacturer or seller
- Allergen information
- Net quantity and storage instructions
We haven't verified that the direction lists each of these fields. Use them as a working checklist against the Labelling and Display Regulations, not as a quote from the order.
Dates need special care. A shelf on a dark store can hold the same product from three different batches with three different expiry dates. If your listing shows one date for all of them, someone will eventually receive a product that doesn't match the screen. DD News had reported in 2024 that FSSAI told e-commerce operators to ensure a minimum shelf life on delivered products. We haven't reviewed that 2024 direction, but it's a reminder that shelf-life expectations for online delivery aren't new.
Claims on the Listing Page
RetailIntel also flagged the food-label claims regulators tend to test. These include "healthy," "natural" and "fresh," preservative-free statements, and immunity and protein claims. Product pages often repeat these claims in banners and bullet points, and they can drift from what's actually on the pack. If a listing says "high protein" and the pack doesn't meet the Advertising and Claims Regulations threshold for that claim, the platform page becomes evidence.
Your Compliance Checklist
- Audit every live listing. Compare each product page with the physical pack and correct any mismatch in expiry, ingredients, allergens or licence number.
- Fix batch-level dates. Make sure your inventory system can show the right expiry date for the batch a customer will actually get.
- Set a shelf-life cut-off. Decide the minimum remaining shelf life at which items are pulled from listings, and apply it automatically.
- Check claims against thresholds. Review each "healthy," "natural," "protein" or "preservative-free" statement and keep the supporting evidence on file.
- Verify licence details. Confirm every seller and warehouse on your platform holds a valid FSSAI licence or registration for the products and premises involved.
Why Act Now
The deadline is one day away, and enforcement is already active. Business Today reported on 28 September 2026, citing the Economic Times, that food manufacturers, QSR chains, cloud kitchens and quick commerce operators are hiring compliance staff, including food safety officers and hygiene auditors, in response to tougher inspections. The report didn't give hiring numbers or name any official source.
The cost of waiting is practical. A regulator that can see your listing from a phone doesn't need to visit your warehouse to spot a gap. Inspections, licence suspensions and product seizures also carry commercial consequences, since suspended sellers lose access to demand at the exact moment it matters. Fixing listings before an inspection is cheaper than explaining them after.
How FoodOS360 Can Help
Listing compliance breaks down when label data lives in one file, licences in another and claims in a third. FoodOS360 is built to keep that information together for food compliance teams. You can track label data and claim substantiation by SKU, monitor licence status across sellers and locations, and see regulatory updates as they land. That makes it easier to check a product page against the pack and the rules, and to show your work if a regulator or platform asks.
Conclusion
The 30 September deadline turns online product pages into a place where FSSAI expects accurate labels and visible expiry dates. Details of the underlying order still need checking against the official text. Audit your listings today, then build a routine so they stay accurate.
This article is meant for general information and isn't legal advice. Talk to a qualified food law professional before making labelling decisions based on this evolving enforcement pattern.