The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) cautioning the e-commerce platforms against any violation of food safety norms is timely and consumer-centric and crucial for safeguarding public health in view of the rapid expansion of the digital food market. The enforcement of the directive remains a grey area, as FSSAI will heavily depend on self-reporting by e-commerce platforms about compliance. Addressing this gap will be crucial to prevent violation of food safety norms masked by paper-based compliance and self-declaration. The vast and expanding size of the e-commerce-dependent food market makes it virtually impossible for the limited staff strength of FSSAI to conduct effective physical checks to detect any violation. The consumer can play a crucial role in reporting the violation, but awareness of consumer grievance redressal and legal provisions of punitive measures against food safety violations is crucial to take it to the right forum for effective and deterrent action. FSSAI prioritising consumer awareness to empower them to flag food safety violations can address the problem of the food regulator’s limitation in inspection. FSSAI instructed all e-commerce platforms to maintain strict adherence to hygiene and food safety protocols across all their warehouses and storage facilities, ensuring that photographs of these facilities are regularly uploaded to the Food Safety Compliance portal. It also directed that all food handlers involved in the process, including e-commerce personnel, must undergo compulsory Food Safety Training & Certification training in hygiene protocols conducted by FSSAI. Mandating the display of the “Date of Expiry/Use By” for food products at the consumer interface is also under consideration. While the directives are quite strong, the hard reality is that e-commerce platforms depend on gig workers for food delivery; ensuring uniform compliance with hygiene standards is a challenging task unless e-commerce players themselves adopt a strong and determined inspection regime of their own. E-commerce platforms taking every single piece of feedback from consumers on food safety and hygiene seriously will go a long way in overcoming the challenge and taking corrective measures. Feedback on consumer appliances and other non-food products and feedback on food order delivery cannot be put in the same basket, as the latter is directly concerned with their health. Rapid digitisation has changed the consumer habit in such a way that the list of the food products ordered from e-commerce platforms is not limited to packaged items but also includes fresh produce from farms and cloud-kitchen-cooked food. The onus lies with the food aggregator and e-commerce platforms to ensure that consumer trust in their brand names is not eroded by dilution in safety norms. Erosion of trust in case of violation of food safety does not remain limited to a particular brand; it raises concern among them about the safeguards and integrity of the entire e-commerce ecosystem. Mandating a third-party audit of the entire food aggregation and delivery system, including storage, handling, and packaging, is a pragmatic solution to the limitation of the FSSAI to conduct physical inspections and depending on self-reporting by e-commerce platforms. The FSSAI directive needs more clarity on automatic real-time data updating about the storage and registration of the facility in the food safety compliance portal. Providing consumers the access to storage data will ensure digital traceability of food products, and they can report to FSSAI whenever they notice any violation of safety norms. Transparency in storage handling can help build consumer trust, while it will bring more accountability for the e-commerce platforms. Even if there is any difficulty for consumers to access the real-time data on storage, packaging, etc., the e-commerce platforms can proactively release images and videos to assure them about the compliance of the safety standards for public health safeguards. An inspection raj is undesirable in a liberalised economy, as it hinders business growth. Self-regulatory measures are a viable option to ensure compliance, provided there is a strong oversight mechanism to prevent self-regulation from reducing to a mere paper-based exercise without strict adherence on the ground. FSSAI building a robust oversight mechanism is crucial to ensure that its directives do not remain on paper and are strictly followed by every single platform along the entire value chain, right from food procurement, storage, handling, and packaging to delivering to the consumers. The use of single-use plastics to deliver food items like chutney and sauces poses serious health risks and concerns besides being a violation of the prohibition of plastic carry packets thinner than the prescribed thickness. Unfortunately, such practices are rampant in most deliveries of online orders for trendy quick bites, and even most consumers being okay with it speaks volumes about the poor awareness level of food safety among them. FSSAI needs to adopt a holistic approach and involve consumers in the food safety regime so that every e-commerce platform realises the importance of safeguarding public health when leveraging digital technology to grow their online food business. Effective participation of consumers will demand greater awareness, transparency, and simplified reporting.