The government has already notified changes in the rules from January 1
The government plans to make laser printing of labels on bottles compulsory to prevent production of counterfeit products. Currently, the wrapper of any product is vulnerable to misuse by those who want to produce a duplicate or a fake product, said consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan. He said his ministry wanted laser printing to be made mandatory by making necessary amendments in the packaged commodities rules. The legal metrology division has been asked to work out those rules, he added.
The government has already notified changes in the rules from January 1, asking manufacturers to display all information necessary for consumers in 40 per cent of the total area of the label.
Paswan also said that the government would make sure that the main information on the labels like price, date of manufacturing and expiry and weight would have decent font size. “What is the point if a consumer is unable to read the information because of very small-sized letters,” Paswan said.
With summer approaching, the minister also expressed concern over fake water bottles. He said states should enforce the labelling rule strictly as packaged water must bear the ISI mark.
Around 28 per cent samples of packaged drinking and mineral water and about 23 per cent milk samples tested during 2014-15 were found not to be conforming to the prescribed standards, health minister J P Nadda had said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha earlier this month.
“Some instances of sale of mineral water or packaged drinking water not conforming to the standards prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSAI), 2006, and unlicensed packaged water, have come to the notice of FSSAI,” he had said.
Out of 2977 and 806 samples tested during 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively, 577 and 226 were found to be not conforming to the standards prescribed under FSSAI.
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