NEW DELHI: Food delivery platform Zomato will be rolling out a new food quality policy on April 18, which may temporarily disable online ordering from restaurants if it receives consumer complaints about the quality of food.
According to an email advisory issued by the company, on receiving a complaint, Zomato will disable online ordering from the restaurant till a third-party (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved) inspection of its premises is completed. The entire cost of such inspection will be borne by the restaurant.
It, however, said the course of action in any such cases will be decided depending on the nature of the complaint. National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) is reportedly drafting a letter to Zomato to bring changes in its policy.
Serving food items that have expired, the wrong type of meat, serving food with the presence of hazardous objects like animal parts or sharp objects, non-vegetarian food instead of vegetarian food or rotten food all come under the list of actionable complaints.
Reportedly, National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) is drafting a letter to Zomato to bring changes in the policy. NRAI in a statement said, “While the intent of the policy is understandable, the implementation leaves a lot of grey areas and scope for misuse. Further, the action of delisting is draconian.” “We have initiated dialogue with the Zomato Team and conveyed our views. They will be meeting with us next week to resolve this in a better more inclusive way, keeping all stakeholders in mind,” it added.