HC admits plea against revocation of ban order

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday admitted a writ appeal against a single judge’s verdict revoking an order of the Food Safety Commissioner banning the manufacture, storage, selling and distribution of the Nirapara brand of chilly, turmeric and coriander powders.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique, while admitting the appeal by the State government, made it clear that it shall be open for the Food and Safety Commissioner to take samples of the products and initiate such other measures as permitted under the law.
Quashing the order of the Food Safety Commissioner, a single judge had observed that in the absence of any finding that the banned foods were unsafe for human consumption, prohibition effected was unwarranted and was done in excess of the jurisdiction vested with the Commissioner of Food Safety. The pre-requisite of exercise of the power under Section 30(2) (a) of the Food Safety and Standard Act was the satisfaction that the food article was unsafe for human consumption. The single judge had passed the verdict while allowing a writ petition filed by KKR Food Products, Kalady, manufacturer of the Nirapara brand of spices.
The appeal also pointed out that gluten which was present in the starch and added by the manufacturer was medically proved and accepted to be injurious to those who were allergic to it.

Food Safety can collect Nirapara samples: Kerala High Court

Kochi: Kerala High Court on Thursday permitted the state food safety department to go ahead with the collection of samples of Nirapara products in accordance with the norms. The court admitted an appeal filed by the state seeking to uphold the ban imposed on some of the products of Nirapara.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique observed, “it shall be open for the food safety department to take samples of the product and take such other measures as permissible under law.”
The state moved the court against the single judge’s order which set aside a prohibition order issued by the commissioner of food safety.
The commissioner had banned the sale of Nirapara brand chilly, turmeric and coriander powder after finding that they were adulterated with cheap starch powder.
Chief secretary Jiji Thomson filed the appeal arguing that Nirapara was a habitual offender. He also sought to quash the observation made by Justice Muhammed Mustaque that “a substandard product can also be sold provided the consumer knows what the contents are.”
This finding would jeopardize the objective of the FSS Act as it is opposed to maintenance of uniform standards of the food products and would violate the provisions of FSS regulations 2011, he said and sought quashing of the observation.The Food Safety Act prohibits the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of any article of food which is misleading or substandard, the state argued.

Govt to change quality norms for procurement of pulses

Given the difficulties faced in pulses procurement aimed at the creation of a buffer stock, an inter-ministerial group (IMG) monitoring prices of essential commodities has decided to make changes in the quality norms, which would help agencies like farmers' cooperative Nafed, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) in stepping up purchase of lentils from farmers.
Sources told FE that the IMG, comprising the officials including from the ministries of food, consumer affairs and agriculture, in a meeting on Wednesday, has decided to make changes in the quality norm for the procurement of pulses so that these agencies could purchase about 1 lakh tonne of pulses for the buffer stocks in the current year.
It has been decided that the agencies would follow norm decided under the Fair Average Quality (FAQ) — relating to foreign matter permissible, percentage of broken matter, etc. for the purchase of pulses from the farmers. As reported by FE, Nafed was finding it difficult to procure pulses from farmers to create a buffer stock because of stringent Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) quality norms.
“The issue of quality specifications was resolved and the procurement of essential commodities is expected to pick up in the coming weeks. With the new arrivals, the situation is expected to further improve,” a food ministry statement late on Wednesday said.
After a directive from the ministry to purchase 35,000 tonne of pulses this season (July-June), farmers’ cooperative Nafed began purchases of arhar dal from the farmers in Rajasthan a few weeks ago. However, sources said, of 39 samples picked up by the Nafed team, only two could meet the FSSAI norm of less than 1% foreign matter presence.