A weekly selection of key court orders

Relaxed rule for food additive import

A division bench of the Delhi High Court last week dismissed the appeals of the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India against the order of the single judge who ordered the release of food additives imported by Danisco Ltd and United Distributors. The authorities denied a no objection certificate (NOC) for the release of ingredients for producing yogurts and other food items as the consignments did not disclose the ingredients in the labels. They argued that India has become a dumping ground for unsafe food. The companies argued that the regulation for disclosing ingredients applied only to food for direct consumption and not to food additives used in industrial use. The court accepted the argument and ruled that food and food additives are treated separately in the rules. It asked the authorities to process NOC applications speedily, on a day-to-day basis, keeping in view the short shelf life of food.