Now Reading: Uttarakhand mandates expiry date on open sweets
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Uttarakhand mandates expiry date on open sweets
The Story in Brief
Uttarakhand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made it mandatory for all sweet shops and bakeries in the state to display the manufacturing and expiry or ‘use by’ date on open sweets and bakery products, effective 26 October. The order, issued by FDA Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, applies to trays and counters where the products are kept.
Until now, such labelling was largely required only for packaged sweets. Food safety officials found during inspections that customers buying open sweets had no clear information about their freshness or shelf life. The safe consumption period varies by product, some sweets last a single day, others up to 30 days.
The rule is expected to be especially relevant during the upcoming festival and wedding season when demand for sweets rises and shops stock large quantities. Its effectiveness will depend on how rigorously the food safety department enforces compliance.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The order shifts the burden of transparency from packaged goods to the largely unregulated open-sweet counter, where most festive purchases happen. Customers can now see whether a tray of rasgulla was made that morning or three days ago, a distinction that matters when shelf life can be as short as 24 hours. The rule does not prescribe penalties for non-compliance, leaving enforcement as the variable that will decide whether the reform changes anything. The FDA’s own success will be measured in the coming weeks, when festival season foot traffic tests how many shops actually put up the dates.
Source: aajtak.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
