Now Reading: Bombay HC to rule Monday on FSSAI rum ban
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Bombay HC to rule Monday on FSSAI rum ban
The Bombay high court will hear on Monday pleas from United Spirits and Old Monk maker Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries against the FSSAI ban on several rum and whisky variants. The regulator…
The Story in Brief
The Bombay high court will hear on Monday pleas from United Spirits and Old Monk maker Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries against the FSSAI ban on several rum and whisky variants. The regulator objects to products being labelled as “rum” when they contain added rum flavouring, arguing this violates the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018. United Spirits told the court that adding rum flavour has been an industry practice for decades and that the regulator acted without citing any health risk.
Meanwhile, a previously unreported July 20 FSSAI notice, reviewed by Reuters, warned Diageo that its Royal Challenge Whisky label claim of being “matured in American oak casks” is misleading. The regulator said a major portion of the product is non-matured grain neutral spirit. Over 4.5 million nine-litre cases of Royal Challenge are sold annually in India.
The Indian Opinion
The FSSAI is right to demand that labels tell the truth, but its sudden ban against a decades-old industry practice feels like heavy-handedness. If adding rum flavour to rum has been standard for 50 years, why only now raise an objection? The real test is not the court hearing but what happens to the label after it. Changing every bottle to “rum-flavoured spirit” will cost crores and take months. The question hangs: is the regulator after honest labelling, or just a headline?
Sources (3): livemint.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com, indiatoday.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
