The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”) has, through a Notification dated 17th January 2020, issued a list of labelling defects categorised into the following:
- Minor labelling defects of insignificant nature and without any food safety concern against which Improvement notice will be issued and no adjudication proceedings will be initiated
- Mandatory Cases: Labelling defects against which adjudication action will be taken.
The Notification advises the State and Union Governments to ensure that only improvement notice is issued in cases involving minor labelling defects of insignificant, which do not pose any food safety concern, as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (“Act”) instead of initiating adjudication proceedings against the Food Business Operators (“FBOs”).
Background:
FSSAI, through a letter [1(56)2015/Advisory/FSSAI (Pt-1)] dated 17th July,2018, had already stated that in case of minor labelling defects without any food safety concern, an Improvement notice will be issued instead of initiating adjudication proceedings to avoid the unnecessary harassment caused to the FBO and for the better utilisation of scarce resources of enforcement machinery of the States/Union Territories, which can be utilised more meaningfully elsewhere to ensure safe and nutritious food for citizens.
Source: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (Page 2)
