HC notice to health, food safety depts on salt iodisation

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Ministry of Health and the Family Welfare and Food Safety Department in a plea seeking to quash the Central government’s order on iodisation of salt.

Madurai: 

A division bench of Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice T Ravindran was hearing a petition filed by TSP Jayapalan, secretary, Thoothukudi Thanpaadu Uppu Ettrumathi Viyabarigal Sangam, on the issue.

The petitioner stated that salt, which is being traditionally manufactured depending purely on nature in Thoothukudi, need not require fortification of iodine for human consumption. Salt is a natural element of soils and water. Earlier, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, through a notification, had prohibited the sale of non-iodised salt

The Food Safety Regulations, 2011, had cited that consumption of iodised salt could be set right. But, it did not mean that by using common salt, it would cause harm to health. Therefore, the impugned amendment could not be sustained on this sole ground.

Further, the petitioner claimed that some people might have more iodine content in the body while some others could have deficiency of it. As a result, every person could feel physical inconvenience, the medical prescription would only guide on whether salt could be consumed with or without iodine. Therefore, generalising the whole concept by way of an amendment could not stand the test of law.

Several scientific data revealed that if iodine content increased in the body beyond the required level, it would result in depression, impotency, hyperthyroidism and so on. Therefore, the regular consumption of iodised salt would harm consumers’ health, the petitioner said.

Meanwhile, counsel for the petitioner argued that since AYUSH is the accredited institution founded by the Centre through special ministry, it has the expertise to give its opinion as to whether or not the common salt could be permitted to be used for human consumption. Hence, it has become necessary to get AYUSH impleaded in this case, counsel said.

After hearing, the bench issued notices to the Ministry of Health and the Family Welfare and Food Safety Department to respond and adjourned the case until further notice.