What's cooking: Delhi HC orders full list of ingredients in non-veg, veg items

The Delhi High Court has ordered all food business operators to specify in detail all the ingredients that go into making a food item.

Stressing that consumers have a right to know what they are eating, a division bench of justices Vipin Sangi and Jasmeet Singh said the food operators should also mention whether the food comes from a plant or animal source, and whether it is made in a laboratory.

“It should be fairly disclosed as to what is the plant source, or animal source – as the case may be, in respect of all the ingredients in whatever measure they are used,” the bench ruled.

Food Business Operators who fail to comply with the regulation would invite punitive action for violating the fundamental rights of consumers, the court said.

“Food Safety and Standards Authority of India should verify all such claims made by the Food Business Operators, and the connivance or failure on the part of the FSSAI or its officers to perform their duties shall expose all such officers to claims by the aggrieved parties, and prosecution under the law,” the court ruled.

The court gave the order while hearing a petition filed Ram Gaua Raksha Dal, an NGO, which had urged for directive to authorities to implement the existing rules on labelling food products and cosmetics.

The petitioner had told the court that the members of the trust – all belonging to the Namdhari sect of Sikhism who practise strict vegetarianism – were not aware which products available in the market are fit for consumption or use as many of them either have “non-vegetarian ingredients or undergo processing in such a way that they cannot be described as strictly vegetarian.”

The court said the failure of authorities to maintain quality is both leading to the non-compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Regulations and also emboldening Food Business Operators to take the public, especially vegetarians, for a ride.

“It matters not as to what is the percentage of such like ingredients (sourced from animals), which are used in the manufacture of food article. Even though their usage may constitute a miniscule percentage, the use of non-vegetarian ingredients would render such food articles non-vegetarian, and would offend the religious and cultural sensibilities/sentiments of strict vegetarians, and would interfere in their right to freely profess, practice and propagate their religion and belief,” the court said.