Inspector of Legal Metrology on 5th April 2013 made a surprise raid at a refrigerated godown located at Aroor in Alappuzha district of Kerala and seized false packages worth more than a Crore rupees. The huge cold storage is having four floors and each floor has three Chambers named A,B & C. During the Inspection, the storage has a stock from 20 different firms and the packages numbers more than 30000. The pack size is of 5/10/15/20/30 kg and the packaged goods are Apple, Orange, dates, dry fruits, spices and raw materials for manufacturing food items. The fruits were imported from Iraq, Iran, Dubai, Egypt and China and the imported packages lacks the mandatory declarations as per rule 6 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 and is punishable under Sec 36(1) of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.

For importing packages, importer need Import licence from Legal Metrology. Importing packages without licence is an
offence punishable under rule 32 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

Lucky Star Fuji Apple 20 kg and Egyptian Orange package without Net Weight marking were opened and net content inspection was performed. Both packages were having less net content of the order of 400 to 1000 g, which is far beyond the permitted Maximum Permissible Error. Importing packages having less net content is punishable under Sec 36(2) of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.

When a package is exported to India, the exporter has to label the packages according to the rule of the land. If the
imported packages were not labelled, it has to be kept in the custom bonded warehouse and be labelled. Then only the
packages can be released by the Customs Department after collecting the Customs Duty and endorsing it on the third copy of Bill of Entry (kept with the importer).

DGFT Notification No 44 (RE-2000)/1997-2002 dated 24.11.2000 directs Customs officials to ensure the Legal Metrology
(Packaged Commodities) Rules related declarations on the import packages before giving clearance for domestic consumption.

Consequences

1. If food poisoning occurs, the importer cannot be traced. Pesticides are applied on Fruits at different occasions. Many apples are wax coated and Genetically Modified. Which can cause severe health problems.

2. Date of Packing/Import is mot marked : The user is unable to know about the freshness of the food item. He is not knowing about the Use by date. These two are mandatory as per Food and Safety (Packaging and labeling) rules made under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 in India.

3. The importer is not marking the price of the packages imported. Thus Customs duty can be reduced to a large extend leading to heavy revenue loss to the Government. The packages were kept in refrigerated warehouses for selling the product when there is demand in the market. The importer can black market the item and regulate the market price.