Suspicion over poor quality food enough for action: FSSAI

This was stated by FSSAI counsel Anil Singh after a Bench of Justices VM Kanade and BP <g data-gr-id="22">Colabwala</g> raised a query whether the food regulator should ban a particular batch of a food item, whose quality was found to be sub-standard or stop the sale of the entire product line.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Nestle India against FSSAI’s June 5 order banning nine variants of Maggi and Maharashtra government’s order prohibiting its sale.

When the matter was called out for hearing on Wednesday, the government lawyers, representing FSSAI and FDA, were not present, prompting the Bench to reprimand the authorities for not taking the matter seriously. “We (India) have been going around from country-to-country seeking business, but commercial matters (litigations) remain pending for years. These matters are important and that is why Parliament is considering to set up ‘commercial benches’ (in courts). People (MNCs) prefer to go to Singapore and London because of this, instead of India for arbitration,” Justice Kanade observed.

Anil Singh, senior counsel and acting Advocate General of Maharashtra, said in <g data-gr-id="25">case</g> of Maggi, there have been violations of law. Their (Maggi’s) label was misleading as it said “No MSG” in contents. Also, the presence of lead in the product was beyond permissible limits, he added.

Singh said even tobacco was banned in some states because it is harmful. But Maggi was basically consumed by children in the age group of 1 to 5 years. If lead is found in Maggi beyond the permissible limits, the health of children would be seriously hit, he submitted.