Amazon Ordered to Hand Over Expired Goods to Maharashtra FDA

The Bombay High Court has directed Amazon Retail India to hand over expired and perished goods from its Bhiwandi warehouse to the Maharashtra FDA for scientific disposal.

The court's decision comes after it reprimanded the FDA for taking drastic action against the e-commerce giant's warehouse in Thane district. The FDA had suspended Amazon's licence on June 25, alleging that expired food items were being sent into the retail market instead of being destroyed.

As a stopgap arrangement, the court has directed Amazon to prepare an inventory of all its expired and perished items from this warehouse and hand them over to the concerned FDA officer. The officer will then take steps to dispose of the items in accordance with the law, and Amazon will bear the cost for this exercise.

The court had earlier chided the FDA for implementing its policy too vigorously, saying it was 'trying to kill a mosquito with a sword'. It advised the agency to act in a systematic way. The FDA has been in the news for conducting raids on food establishments since IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe took over as head of the agency in May.