MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict over the issue of whether the Food Safety and Standards Authority had the power to issue guidelines requiring existing manufacturers to take approval for products that are already in the market.
Hearing a petition filed by Vital Nutraceuticals and Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association challenging the advisory, Justice V M Kanade held that such approval for products that are already in the market was unconstitutional.
"If the food authority is permitted to carry out the exercise, it would result in a chaotic situation where all existing manufacturers, who have valid license for several decades, will be required under the garb of this advisory to obtain product approval even for existing ones. And, till the product approval is not granted, they would be precluded from marketing the said products, which have been in the market for a sufficiently long time," said Justice Kanade.
But Justice Girish Kulkarni differed and said the right to safe and uncontaminated food was held to be a fundamental right under the constitution.
"It is well settled that the right to livelihood encompasses the right to live with dignity, that is to have a healthy life which is possible only if safe and wholesome food is available for human consumption. It cannot be overlooked that the issue of food safety and right to have wholesome food is a matter of national as well as international concern," Justice Kulkarni said.
He added that "there is nothing improper on the part of the food authority to bring about a regime to have a concept of product approval for existing licence-holders or in relation any food business".
According to the advisory, food products covering a broad spectrum including "novel foods, functional foods, food supplements, irradiated foods, genetically modified foods, foods for special dietary uses or extracts or concentrates of bot-anicals, herbs or of animal sources" should apply for product approval.
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