Regulatory Excess in Food Standards

Scant respect for the essential goal of regulation

Large consignments of premium whisky , wine, chocolates and other gourmet foods are stuck at ports, thanks to the efforts of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which says these do not conform to its labelling requirements. It is ridiculous that the food regulator insists that Indian consumers cannot feel secure till they know the precise ingredients of Johnnie Walker whisky , Château Latour wine and Lindt chocolate, never mind what goes into the making of mass-consumed varieties of local food and drink. Several sections of the food business have got together to challenge the appointment of the head of the FSSAI while the FSSAI threatens serious loss of revenue to the industry in the forthcoming festival season, with its obduracy and arbitrariness.

The most striking proof of the regulator's arbitrariness is its objection to use of the trade name canola for imports of this edible oil. It wants the trade to label imported canola packs `rape seed oil -low erucic acid', whi le the trade wants to call it canola oil, just as domestic bottlers of the oil imported in bulk do. The regulator's justification for its stance is that the Food and Agricultural Organisation's standards-setting Codex Alimentarius calls the oil by this name while listing canola as a synonym. The tra de points out that the same Codex has arachis oil as the main entry for groundnut oil but the regulator is happy to live with groundnut oil.

Clear and detailed labelling is desirable. But the trade needs to be given time to phase it in. Globally respected brands will not corrode the innards of Indians if they continue to come into the country bearing descriptions that satisfy, say, the US and the EU, till new labelling arrangements are complete. The larger point is about regulatory philosophy . The purpose of regulation is enlightened, sustainable growth of the sector. In food, this goal has given way to arbitrary assertion of the civil servant's power to cause damage. This is not acceptable. Both sides must abandon their mutual hostility between the regulator and the regulated, and work together.