FDA fines Blinkit after rat found in ice-cream freezer

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has intensified inspections of quick-commerce warehouses, reporting a rat inside a Blinkit ice-cream freezer during a raid. NDTV Profit says the discovery is part of a broader crackdown on hygiene, storage and pest-control practices at facilities run by firms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart.

The FDA has issued fines and flagged repeated violations at multiple locations, raising concerns about cold-chain maintenance and rodent infestation. The regulator has not yet released a full list of penalties or set a deadline for corrective action, but the inspections remain ongoing across Mumbai and Pune.