Maharashtra FDA resolves 72% of 13,857 complaints in first three months; AI filters 11,491 invalid submissions
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has resolved 71.8% of 13,857 complaints received through its new online grievance redressal portal in the three months since its launch on July 14. In the same period, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based screening system rejected 11,491 submissions at the initial stage for being invalid, misleading or outside the department’s jurisdiction, officials said in a performance report shared on Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
Single-window portal promises time-bound action
The portal, accessible at complaints.mahafda.gov.in, was launched to give citizens a single platform to file complaints, track case progress and ensure time-bound action by authorities. According to the department, the system automatically assigns grievances to the relevant officer and triggers escalations if action is not taken within the prescribed timeframe.
During the first three months, 4,068 complaints were escalated because officers did not act within the stipulated time. The system also generated 4,068 notices to the officials responsible for delays, the FDA said.
Of the 13,857 complaints formally registered on the portal, 13,017 concerned food-related issues and 840 pertained to drugs.
AI screening weeds out invalid or out-of-jurisdiction cases
Explaining how the AI-driven gatekeeping works, FDA officials said the portal assesses every submission at the outset to identify entries that are potentially misleading, incomplete, vague, or outside the department’s remit. The initial screening uses predefined rules and departmental data to estimate the likelihood that a complaint is genuine, without human intervention at this stage.
Submissions lacking specific information, falling outside the FDA’s jurisdiction or appearing to misuse the grievance mechanism are not admitted. Complainants are informed of the reasons for rejection. Officials cited examples where customers primarily raised service issues — such as delays in restaurant service or the provision of drinking water — before alleging that food was unsafe or substandard; when such cases lacked sufficient grounds for FDA intervention, they were filtered out.
In all, 11,491 submissions were rejected through this mechanism during the three-month period. These rejections are separate from the 13,857 complaints admitted and processed through the portal.
Where complaints came from: Pune and Greater Mumbai lead
Region-wise, Pune recorded the highest number of complaints at 4,519, followed by Greater Mumbai with 3,762 and the Konkan region with 2,551. The Pune region covers five districts, Greater Mumbai includes Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, and the Konkan region includes Thane and other districts along the Konkan belt.
In a separate district-wise breakdown, Pune district logged the most complaints at 3,762, followed by Mumbai with 2,551 and Thane with 1,090. Together, the Pune and Greater Mumbai regions accounted for approximately 59.8% of all registered complaints during the period, the FDA said. Other regions — Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur and Amravati — followed in descending order of complaints received.
Top issues: hygiene lapses and foreign objects in food
Among the most frequently reported grievances, unhygienic manufacturing and storage conditions topped the list with 4,052 complaints, around 29% of the total. Complaints about foreign objects found in food products were the second-most common, with 3,536 cases, or 25.5%.
Other major categories included substandard or unsafe packaged food (1,817 complaints), expired or spoiled products (829), and suspected food poisoning or food-related illnesses (787).
Complaints increasingly target dark stores and quick commerce
Officials reported a notable shift in the profile of complaints submitted via the portal. While hotels, restaurants and eateries initially accounted for the largest share, nearly half of recent complaints now concern dark stores and quick-commerce services, according to the department’s assessment of recent trends.
The department attributed this change partly to enforcement action against traditional food establishments, suggesting that complaints in those categories may have declined following regulatory intervention. The rise in grievances related to quick-commerce and dark-store operations has, in turn, drawn greater attention to food storage, handling and product quality within the rapidly expanding sector.
Officials said tracking this evolving pattern will help identify emerging areas of concern and direct enforcement to sectors attracting more consumer complaints.
Festive and sale periods see complaint spikes
Month-wise data show the portal received 2,075 complaints between July 14 and the end of July, before a sharp increase to 5,412 in August. The number fell to 3,810 in September, while 2,560 complaints were registered in the first 14 days of October.
The highest weekly volume was recorded in the week beginning August 17, with 1,564 complaints, followed by the week beginning September 28, which saw 1,391 grievances. FDA officials suggested that the spikes in August and September may be linked to major promotional sales and festive-season demand, when higher transaction volumes can increase the risk of unsafe or substandard products entering the market.
Improving accountability and response
The FDA said the portal’s automated monitoring, escalation and screening mechanisms are designed to improve officer accountability while ensuring that genuine consumer complaints receive timely attention. The combination of AI screening and automatic escalation, along with notices for delayed action, is intended to streamline enforcement and focus departmental resources on substantiated, high-priority cases.
Officials added that insights from the portal’s data — including geographic concentrations, seasonal surges and sectoral shifts — will inform ongoing regulatory strategy and targeted inspections in the months ahead.
