CHENNAI:Defining the difference between the phrases ‘Best Use Before’ and ‘Date of Expiry’, the Madras High Court has said there was a clear-cut distinction between them. The meaning attached to “best before” is that the period during which the product shall remain fully marketable and shall retain in specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made. Beyond the prescribed date also the food article may still be perfectly satisfactory, Justice S Vaidyanathan said.
The meaning attached to the “expiry date” signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the product probably will not have the quality and safety attributes normally expected by the consumers. As such, the item shall not be sold beyond the expiry date.
“Therefore, it is clear that even after the date of ‘best before’, the product can be consumed as safety would be still intact, however, it may not be as good as what it would have been if used within specified time limit, since after it passes the date of ‘best before’ every day counts and the shelf life of the product will gradually decrease in all respects, such as, quality, taste, potency etc. There is no confusion as regards ‘expiry date’, which is a clear cut and once it passes, the product will lose its value in all respects and cannot be consumed and it is harmful if used. Therefore, it can be analyzed that ‘expiry date’ will come after expiration of ‘best before date’. If a product contains both the dates, normally, best before date will be shown first to that of ‘expiry date’, the judge said.
The judge was dismissing a writ petition from Amrut Distilleries seeking to quash an order dated October 15 last year of the Authorized Officer of Chennai Seaport and Airport, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in Chennai and consequently, send appropriate report to the Deputy Commissioner of Customs to enable it to clear goods covered under the Bill of Entry dated September 26, for home consumption.
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