Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal addresses ’future dated’ mushrooms found in warehouse: ’Were never going to make it to...’

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has defended the company against food safety concerns after 90 packets of button mushrooms were found at Hyperpure's Hyderabad warehouse with a future packaging date. Goyal attributed the issue to a “manual typing error” on the vendor's end and assured the company's commitment to upholding food safety standards.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Goyal said that the warehouse team had already identified the 90 incorrectly labelled packets of buttoned mushrooms found by FSSAI and had rejected them during an inward quality check.

“This is not usual and was due to a manual typing error on the vendor’s side. Still, the concerned vendor has been delisted from our database. At Hyperpure, we have stringent inward guidelines and tech systems that helped our teams to identify this error in time.” Goyal wrote in his X post

“We are committed to upholding industry food safety standards and are focused on not compromising on product quality at any stage of the supply chain. The recent food safety inspection at our Hyderabad warehouse resulted in the Hyperpure warehouse achieving an A+ rating, highest benchmark in their ranking.” the Zomato CEO added

Goyal also questioned why a packet of mushrooms worth ₹7,200, which “was never going to make it to customers,” was being discussed so much, despite the warehouse receiving an A+ rating from the FSSAI.

What's the controversy about?

A controversy erupted after food officials raided Zomato's Hyperpure facility in Kukatpally, Hyderabad, on October 29, 2024, and found 18 kg of button mushrooms with a packaging date of October 30, 2024. The Hyperpure facility operates as a Food Business Operator (FBO) and supplies fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, gourmet foods, packaging, consumables, kitchen equipment, and more to hotels, restaurants, and caterers in the area, a report by Hindustan Times stated.