Food
Safety in India – Nestlé’s Maggi continues to Boil
The Hon’ble Bombay High Court, on June 12, 2015, heard the
petition filed by Nestlé India (hereinafter referred to as Nestlé)
raising issues of interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, the
orders passed by the Commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra and the Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India (hereinafter referred
to as FSSAI).
However, Nestlé remains high and dry as it receives no immediate relief.
The developments in this issue were reported by us on June 1, 2015 and the same is accessible here
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Source: http://www.friedchillies.com
Issues
raised by Nestlé
- Nestlé
challenged the order dated June 5, 2015 passed by the FSSAI as
well as the order dated June 6, 2015 issued by the Commissioner of
Food Safety, State of Maharashtra on the ground that the said orders were
passed without giving any formal show cause notice. Further, the said
orders were passed by authorities who allegedly had no jurisdiction
to pass the same. Lastly, the procedure followed for the testing of the
products was allegedly faulty and, therefore, the order passed on such
improper testing was liable to be set aside.
- The second issue pertained to the procedure followed by the FSSAI for the testing of the product. Mr. Iqbal Chagla, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of Nestlé, submitted that some of the samples tested by FSSAI were expired. Also, during the testing period of three months, the samples were not sealed and, therefore, results of such product analysis were completely faulty and could not be relied upon.
- The
learned Senior Counsel further submitted that after having imposed the
ban, Nestlé had been asked to show-cause why the product approval, which
was granted in respect of 8 of the 9 products, should not be cancelled. It
was contended by Mr. Chagla that the FSSAI having prejudged the issue, the
procedure of the inquiry in respect of cancelling the product approval was
completely arbitrary. He then submitted that Nestlé had already given a
Press Release dated June 5, 2015 to withdraw the products from the shelves
despite the product being safe.
Order of the Court
The Hon’ble Court has also directed the FSSAI to file a detailed affidavit in reply in respect of the
averments made in the Petition and point out the factual and legal
submissions which they propose to make. Further, the FSSAI was asked not to
take any action in respect of the notice which required the company to explain
itself within 15 days over the product approval already granted for MAGGI
Noodles, till the next date of hearing.
The
Court shall hear the FSSAI’s contentions on June 30, 2015._______________________
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