Food Safety & Surplus Food Disclaimer

Details marked to be published are being finalised and will appear here once confirmed.

In short

• Surplus food is good, safe food that a shop could not sell in time. It is not leftovers from someone's plate.
• The shop is the Food Business Operator and is responsible for the food. Stataa is a marketplace and never handles the food.
• We check each shop's FSSAI number and photos before approval. That is not a food-safety inspection or guarantee.
• If you have a food allergy, read the allergen section before buying, especially before buying a Surprise Bag.
• Collect on time, and eat or refrigerate the food quickly. If you feel unwell, get medical help first, then tell us.

1. What "surplus food" means on Stataa

Surplus food is food that is safe and fit to eat but that the shop could not sell at its normal price in time. For example:

• bread, cakes and snacks baked today that are left at closing time;
• extra portions a restaurant or café prepared but did not sell;
• sweets and savouries near the end of their best-before period;
• packaged groceries that are still in date, or items with small cosmetic flaws.

Surplus food is never:

• food that was served to another customer, left on a buffet, or returned;
• food past its use-by or expiry date;
• food that was recalled, damaged or stored unsafely.

2. Who is responsible for the food

The shop that sells you the food is the Food Business Operator (FBO) under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The shop is responsible for:

• holding a valid FSSAI licence or registration;
• preparing, storing and handling the food hygienically;
• keeping food at safe temperatures until handover;
• labelling it correctly, including dates, veg or non-veg marks and allergens;
• describing it honestly in its listing.

Stataa is an intermediary: a marketplace that connects you with the shop. Stataa does not prepare, cook, pack, handle, store, transport or inspect any food. Before we approve a shop, we check that its FSSAI number is valid and that its shop photos look genuine. That check is not a food-safety inspection, a hygiene rating or a guarantee. Stataa holds its own FSSAI licence as an e-commerce food business (to be published). We remove shops that break food-safety rules, and we cooperate with food safety authorities.

3. Dates on food: "use by" and "best before"

Under FSSAI's labelling rules (the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020):

• "Use by" or "Expiry" is a safety date. After it, the food may not be safe and must not be sold.
• "Best before" is a quality date. Up to that date the food keeps its full quality. After it, the food may still be safe but may have lost freshness, taste or texture.

Our rules for shops are stricter than the minimum:

• No food may be sold past its use-by or expiry date.
• Packaged food must also be within its best-before date at pickup, and must have the remaining shelf life FSSAI currently requires for food sold online.
• Loose sweets must show a best-before date, as FSSAI requires of sweet shops. The shop must include it in the listing.
• Fresh food without a printed date, such as cooked meals and bakery items, should be eaten the same day unless the shop tells you otherwise.

4. Veg and non-veg marks

Listings use FSSAI's marks:

• Veg: a green filled circle inside a green square.
• Non-veg: a brown filled triangle inside a brown square.

Under FSSAI rules, food containing egg counts as non-vegetarian, so it carries the non-veg mark. We also show "contains egg" on such food, so that people who eat egg but not meat can find it.

For a Surprise Bag, the marking applies to everything in the bag. A bag marked veg must contain only vegetarian food.

If a shop marks food wrongly, report it at once (see the Cancellation & Refund Policy). We treat wrong veg marking as a serious breach. If you follow a strict diet (for example, Jain, or no onion and garlic), marks alone may not be enough. Ask the shop before you collect.

5. Allergens

Shops must declare the allergens that FSSAI lists, and any others they know of:

• cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats and their products);
• crustaceans (such as prawns and crab);
• milk and milk products;
• eggs;
• fish;
• peanuts and tree nuts (such as cashew, almond and walnut);
• soy;
• sulphite (10 mg per kg or more).

Please remember:

• Shop kitchens handle many ingredients. Food may pick up traces of allergens that are not in the recipe.
• A Surprise Bag's contents vary from day to day. If you have a severe allergy, we suggest you buy Items with clear ingredients, not Surprise Bags.
• If you are unsure, ask the shop before eating. Do not eat food you cannot check.
• Stataa relies on what the shop declares and cannot promise that any food is free from an allergen.

6. Collecting and storing your food

• Collect during your pickup window and check the food at the counter. If something looks or smells wrong, do not accept it and report it.
• Take the food home quickly. Keep hot food and cold food apart.
• Do not leave cooked or perishable food at room temperature for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour in hot weather. In a Delhi summer, that means getting it into the fridge quickly.
• Refrigerate perishable food at 5°C or below. This includes milk sweets, paneer, cream cakes, cut fruit, cooked rice, meat, fish and eggs.
• Cool leftover cooked rice quickly and refrigerate it. Rice left warm for long can make people ill even after reheating.
• Reheat food until it is steaming hot all the way through, and reheat it only once.
• Do not refreeze food that has thawed.
• When in doubt, throw it out.

This is general food-safety advice, not medical advice.

7. If you feel unwell after eating

• Get medical help first. In an emergency, call 112. Tell the doctor what you ate and when.
• Keep any leftover food, packaging and labels, and take photos.
• Report it to Stataa within 24 hours of pickup through the contact form or "Report a problem" on the order. If you were too unwell to report in time, still report it. We will take that into account.
• We will contact the shop, may pause its listings while we look into it, and will refund you where appropriate. We share information with food safety authorities where the law requires it.
• You can also complain directly to FSSAI through the Food Safety Connect app or website (foscos.fssai.gov.in/consumergrievance), or on the toll-free number 1800-112-100.

8. For shops

The Seller Partner Agreement has your full duties. The key points are:

• Keep your FSSAI licence or registration valid, and follow FSSAI's hygiene and sanitary requirements.
• Keep hot food hot (above 60°C) and cold food cold (5°C or below) until handover. If you cannot do that for the whole pickup window, do not list the food.
• Declare the veg or non-veg marking and allergens accurately, and show dates wherever the law requires them.
• Never list food that was served, returned or left on a buffet, food past its use-by date, or recalled food.
• If you learn of a safety problem with food you sold through Stataa, pause your listings and tell us at once at sellers@stataa.com.