The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued formal notices to three companies over allegedly misleading product claims tied to Freedom Cooking Rice Bran Oil — Hyderabad-based Gemini Edibles & Fats India Ltd, online grocery platform BigBasket, operating as Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited, and Flipkart India Private Limited.

Marketing materials circulated across online retail sites and social media platforms carried assertions that the product could lower harmful cholesterol levels while sustaining or raising beneficial ones, alongside a specification of 10,000+ PPM Natural Oryzanol content. The regulator determined that the cholesterol-related and heart-health assertions in those advertising materials fell outside the boundaries set by the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, noting those particular claims lacked authorisation under the applicable provisions of that framework.

The food safety regulator also raised questions with Gemini Edibles & Fats India Limited about whether the company had been running an e-commerce operation through its own website without holding a Central Licence covering such activity. Notices have been issued to the firms directing them to explain why proceedings under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, along with its associated rules and regulations, ought not to be brought against them.

In a separate action, food safety regulators cancelled Jhanvitanni's operating licence, citing the business's continued failure to meet required standards and its decision to keep trading after an earlier suspension had already been imposed. The regulator documented hygiene and sanitation shortcomings at the facility and determined that the remedial steps put forward by the operator fell short of what was required. Investigators also found that the firm had kept its doors open throughout the period when its licence was under suspension.

In another separate action, the food safety regulator cancelled the operating licence of DNV Food Products Limited after on-site inspectors documented substandard conditions across its manufacturing, packing, and storage areas. Among the recorded infractions were dirt accumulation, pools of standing water, cobweb build-up, fly presence, and deficiencies in sanitation provision. Inspectors also recorded corroded processing equipment, deteriorating floor surfaces, ventilation that fell below required standards, and raw materials, packaging, and finished goods stored in ways that did not meet regulations.

Among the paperwork gaps flagged by the regulator were absent food-grade packaging certificates, outstanding migration reports, and incomplete mock recall records, alongside operations involving the handling and repacking of goods carried out without the appropriate licence endorsement.

FSSAI issued a formal improvement notice to AB Hotels Limited over food safety and hygiene shortcomings at its New Delhi property operating under the Radisson Blu brand. Auditors catalogued a range of facility failures, including corroded equipment, leaking freezer units, insufficient cooling controls and temperature tracking, poor airflow, compromised floor surfaces, and blocked drainage channels. Inspectors also documented pest-management deficiencies, with both cockroaches and flies detected on the premises.

Additional findings included gaps in how food was sourced and tracked, a failure to keep raw and cooked items apart, and no clear division between vegetarian and non-vegetarian products. Testing on oil samples returned total polar compound readings of 31 and 24.4, and assessments needed to determine whether the oil remained fit for ongoing use had not been performed.

Authorities have ordered the property to implement remedial steps and furnish a follow-up report supported by both written records and photographic documentation. The relevant authority has indicated that additional enforcement measures remain available in the event of non-compliance with the directions.