MUMBAI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Maharashtra state's food safety

chief has intensified a crackdown on the food and grocery

industries, suspending the permits of 12 warehouses of Indian

grocery giants Eternal, Swiggy and Zepto

after finding cockroach infestations and other unhygienic

conditions.

The latest raids targeting the "quick commerce" sector,

where companies deliver groceries within minutes, come after the

state's new food safety head, Tukaram Mundhe, 51, shut some of

Mumbai's most popular eateries for poor hygiene.

Reports of food contamination are common in India's local

eateries, and Maharashtra's drive and Mundhe are gathering

social media attention because historically there has been

little enforcement of food safety standards.

Earlier this week, Mundhe's department shut four Domino's

outlets, a brand that is India's biggest fast-food chain

and typically considered to have stricter safety protocols.

The state's FDA said in a statement on Friday that it had

inspected 86 establishments, issued 60 "improvement notices",

and suspended the permits of five warehouses of Eternal's

Blinkit, five of Zepto's, and two of Swiggy's Instamart.

Swiggy and Eternal declined to comment, and Zepto did not

respond to queries from Reuters.

Swiggy and Zepto have roughly 1,100 delivery outlets each in

India, and Blinkit has 2,200, according to Datum Intelligence.

At one of the food storage facilities of Blinkit, India's

biggest quick commerce company, according to the release from

Mundhe's office on Friday, inspectors found a cockroach

infestation and rotten vegetables, and inspections at other

sites turned up rodent droppings and unhygienic conditions.

At a Zepto warehouse in Nashik in northwestern Maharashtra

state, delivery staff were entering storage areas in street

footwear, raising cross-contamination risks, the state FDA

statement also said.

Other photos shared by the state FDA showed rusted and dirty

storage racks, with cockroaches crawling around food items.

"We will not tolerate any playing with public health,"

Mundhe said in the FDA statement, warning of tougher action

against unsafe food preparation and unhygienic food storage.