2 weeks ago
Quick-commerce firms scramble for food safety staff amid inspections
Quick-commerce companies are hiring more people to make sure their food is stored and handled safely.
This is happening because government inspectors have found problems at some dark stores and warehouses.
Some stores have had their licences suspended or have been temporarily closed.
India does not have enough experienced food safety workers for all the businesses that need them.
Because these workers are in short supply, companies are paying higher salaries.
New workers are being trained, but experienced people who can conduct audits and manage cold storage are harder to find.
Some companies are using temporary consultants to prepare for inspections.
Experts warn that paperwork may not always lead to better everyday food-safety practices.
Demand is expected to rise further during the festive season.
Quick-commerce platforms and dark-store operators are urgently hiring food safety supervisors and technical compliance staff.
The demand follows licence suspensions, improvement notices and store closures in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
India has an estimated shortfall of hundreds of thousands of certified food safety professionals, with salary premiums up 45-55% since early 2025.
Experienced workers are especially scarce because entry-level certification has grown faster than audit, cold-chain and corrective-action expertise.
Adecco expects festive-season demand to rise 15-25%, while NLB Services projects temporary hiring growth of 35-40% among quick-commerce companies.
- Who
- Quick-commerce platforms, dark-store operators, food safety professionals, staffing firms and state regulators.
- What
- Companies are scrambling to hire certified food safety supervisors, quality professionals and technical compliance staff as inspections intensify.
- Where
- Across India, with intensified enforcement reported in Maharashtra and Karnataka, including Mumbai and Bengaluru.
- When
- Demand has sharply increased over the past two to three weeks, with further growth expected during the festive season.
- Why
- Licence suspensions, store closures and regulatory requirements have exposed staffing and oversight gaps at food-handling facilities.
Operators and staffing response
Regulatory and expert concerns
Temporary consultants
Operators and staffing response
Quick-commerce operators are using contract consultants as a short-term way to meet staffing and audit requirements while permanent hiring continues.
Regulatory and expert concerns
Experts warn that consultants hired for an audit cycle may create compliance on paper without changing daily practices between inspections.
Certification growth
Operators and staffing response
The certified workforce has expanded since the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India tightened FoSTaC training requirements for e-commerce food operations in July 2025.
Regulatory and expert concerns
Staffing firms and industry executives say most of the increase is at entry level, while experienced supervisors and compliance specialists remain scarce.
Store-level compliance
Operators and staffing response
Operators in Mumbai and Bengaluru say they are hiring at short notice and, in at least one case, temporarily closed a dark store to complete compliance requirements.
Regulatory and expert concerns
Regulatory findings, including those involving Blinkit's Malad West store, cited missing medical records, hygiene problems and inadequate protective equipment for food handlers.
Key facts
- Estimated workforce need
- India needs about 1.3-1.5 million active certified food safety supervisors.
- Estimated available pool
- The available pool is roughly 1-1.2 million professionals.
- Salary increase
- Salary premiums for food safety professionals have risen 45-55% from early-2025 levels.
- Staffing requirement
- Licensed food businesses must have one FoSTaC-certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers at each premises.
- Maharashtra enforcement
- The state suspended 14 dark-store licences linked to Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart.
- Karnataka enforcement
- Authorities sealed a Zepto warehouse in Hoskote taluk and flagged lapses at a Zomato Hyperpure facility in Bengaluru.
- Regulatory change
- Amended licensing regulations notified in March and effective from April introduced risk-based inspections and provisions for online food businesses.
Quotes
Varun Sachdeva
SVP and APAC head at NLB Services
“Passing audits and completing paperwork do not always result in proper food‑safety practices at the store level.”
financialexpress.com
“There’s a spike in mandates from quick commerce firms in the last two to three weeks.”
financialexpress.com
Sources
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