# Bombay HC stays FSSAI ban on Old Monk, McDowell’s variants 2026-08-07T09:57:05+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained the food safety regulator from enforcing its ban on several popular rum and whisky brands, including Old Monk and McDowell's No 1, until the next hearing on Monday. The FSSAI had ordered a halt to sales of three Old Monk variants, Antiquity Blue, Royal Challenge and others, saying they used artificial flavours like adding rum flavour to rum instead of proper ageing methods. The regulator's lab tests found many products used neutral spirit with less than 5 per cent matured spirit, making age claims deceptive under FSS (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations 2018. United Spirits and Mohan Meakin challenged the orders in court, arguing their methods are standard industry practice followed for decades and that relabelling products as 'rum-flavoured spirit' requires prior approval from state excise departments, which cannot be done overnight. ## Coverage - livemint.com - indiatoday.in Tags: alcohol regulation, Diageo, food safety, FSSAI, Old Monk Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/fssai-bans-old-monk-antiquity-blue-and-royal-challenge-variants/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/fssai-bans-old-monk-antiquity-blue-and-royal-challenge-variants/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.