India's food safety regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is currently testing an artificial intelligence-based system that could automatically flag food safety issues on e-commerce sites.
The initiative is being developed with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to better monitor online food businesses, quick-commerce sites, dark stores and cloud kitchens.
FSSAI Chief Executive Officer Rajit Punhani said that the regulator is working with MeitY on the AI tool and that the system is currently being tested. According to Moneycontrol, the technology is designed to automatically inform the regulator of a potential violation when the potential violation is detected. It's expected to be deployed initially on e-commerce platforms as information related to online food sales can be examined digitally and potential violations may be easier to detect.
The proposed technology could represent a fundamental change in how food safety authorities monitor the rapidly expanding online food marketplace. In the past, regulatory inspections have relied on physical inspections, complaints from consumers and sampling and laboratory testing to conduct most inspections.
The use of an automated digital monitoring system could complement this by constantly examining information on online products and alerting officials to products or listings that might require further examination.
The move comes as food products sold online and in quick-commerce are under increasing scrutiny. Online grocery platforms and rapid-delivery services have transformed the way consumers buy packaged food, beverages and other products. Dark stores and fulfilment centres are also a part of the delivery ecosystem. FSSAI has said such new forms of food commerce need to be regulated more intensely with the development of the industry.
The AI system might also help ensure officials are able to see issues in online product information, claims, labelling or other regulatory requirements. But the technology should be treated as a screening and enforcement-support tool, not as a final decision-maker. A digital flag doesn’t alone make a food product unsafe or a business violate the law. Regulatory officials would still need to check it through inspection, document checks, product sampling and laboratory analysis.
FSSAI’s current digital infrastructure could be a significant foundation for this technology. FoSCoS is a food safety technology framework that the regulator runs, which is integrated with licensing, inspections, complaints, laboratory networks and other regulatory functions of the system. FSSAI describes FoSCoS as a pan-India digital platform that meets current food safety regulatory needs.
The regulator’s greater attention to online food businesses follows enforcement actions involving e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms. In July 2026, FSSAI issued nine notices to Swiggy Instamart following consumer complaints of expired, spoiled, rotten, contaminated or otherwise unsafe food products. These notices also raised food-business licence details, the regulator said. The allegations were subject to regulatory proceedings and weren’t proof that all products sold through the platform were unsafe.
More recently, FSSAI has also taken action against food products that made promotional claims on e-commerce sites. In September 2026, the regulator initiated legal proceedings against Nestlé India for three infant nutrition products, including misleading promotional claims and a follow-up formula sample that did not meet the biotin standard. Nestlé has disputed the concerns and said it adheres to regulations.
These developments demonstrate why digital monitoring could become increasingly important for food regulators. Online marketplaces can have thousands of product listings, descriptions, images and claims to monitor, and manual monitoring is difficult at scale. An AI-powered system could be used to scan large volumes of information much more rapidly and identify listings that require closer examination.
At the same time, accuracy will be essential. Food regulations can come with technical requirements, product categories, and context-specific rules that may not always be easy for an automated system to interpret. False positives may be seen as excessive scrutiny while false negatives could allow true violations to go unnoticed. Therefore, human oversight and proper verification will be of great importance.
The FSSAI initiative is also part of the government’s drive to improve the country’s food-testing and enforcement infrastructure. In August 2026, India reported 259 accredited laboratories, 24 referral laboratories and 305 mobile testing units among other measures to improve food-safety enforcement.
🚨 India's FSSAI is testing an AI-based system to automatically detect food safety violations on e-commerce platforms. pic.twitter.com/RHmFT3Swpx
— Indian Tech & Infra (@IndianTechGuide) September 21, 2026
If consumers are to take advantage of the proposed AI system, more scrutiny of the food products and claims on digital marketplaces might become a reality. For food businesses, it could put even more pressure on them to keep the online product information accurate and comply with licensing, labelling and safety requirements.
The technology is still in the testing phase, so details about its final capabilities, deployment timeline and enforcement process have not yet been fully disclosed. If implemented at scale, however, the system could give FSSAI an additional digital tool to monitor India’s rapidly growing online food marketplace and identify potential food-safety concerns more efficiently.
