'Using non-veg ingredients, labelling as veg offend religious sentiments'

New Delhi: Use of non-vegetarian ingredients and labelling them vegetarian would offend religious and cultural sentiments of strict vegetarians and interfere in their right to freely profess their religion, the Delhi High Court has said.

The court observed that everyone has a right to know what they are consuming and nothing can be offered to them on a platter by resorting to deceit and camouflage.

The high court directed the Centre and FSSAI to ensure that there should be full and complete disclosure of all the ingredients which go into the manufacture of any food article, not only by their code names but also by disclosing whether they originate from plant or animal source or whether they are manufactured in a laboratory, irrespective of their percentage in the food article.

The court's order came while hearing a plea for labelling "all items" used by the public, including home appliances and apparel, as "vegetarian" or "non-vegetarian" on the basis of their ingredients and "items used in manufacturing process".

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said failure of the authorities in checking such lapses is leading to not only non-compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Regulations, but also leading to deceit by such food business operators of the public at large, particularly those who wish to profess strict vegetarianism.

"It matters not as to what is the percentage of such like ingredients (which are sourced from animals), which are used in the manufacture of food article.

"Even though their usage may constitute a miniscule percentage, the use of non-vegetarian ingredients would render such food articles non-vegetarian, and would offend the religious and cultural sensibilities/ sentiments of strict vegetarians, and would interfere in their right to freely profess, practice and propagate their religion and belief. Every person has a right to know as to what he/ she is consuming, and nothing can be offered to the person on a platter by resort to deceit, or camouflage," the bench said.

The high court also directed the food business operators to ensure full and strict compliance of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations on the basis that the use of any ingredient in whatever measure or percentage, which is sourced from animals, would render the food article as non-vegetarian.

"We may observe that failure on the part of the food business operators to comply with the above requirements would expose themselves to, inter alia, class action for violation of the fundamental rights of the consuming public and invite punitive damages, apart from prosecution," the

bench said.