Liquor makers put up spirited opposition to central oversight

Posted: 26 Jul 2012 10:25 AM PDT

New Delhi: At a time of widening Centre-state strifes over turf — from the power to levy taxes to the design and implementation of welfare programmes — the liquor industry has joined the issue out of compulsion. 

Facing the prospect of having to apply for licences afresh from the Centre under a new food safety and standards law and be regulated by the central foods regulator, the industry that counts among its members top companies like United Spirits, Radico Khaitan and Diageo India has dragged the central government and the regulator to court. 

While the liquor industry argues that alcoholic beverages form part of the state list under the Constitution and are regulated for purposes of taxation and standards by state excise laws, the central government has submitted to the court that it derives its power to regulate alcohol from the concurrent list which allows it to legislate on matters related to ‘adulteration of food stuff’. 

In a petition filed before the Bombay High Court, the alcohol industry claimed that the central government has committed a fundamental error in defining liquor as food under the new Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA). This, the industry pleads, was the very reason the now-repealed Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) never applied to liquor industry. PFA was overridden by FSSA in 2011, which regulates the country’s food sector. 

The industry’s claim is being vehemently opposed by the central foods regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which argues that the liquor industry all along fully fell under the scope of PFA. The Centre also has strongly protested against any definition of food that excludes alcohol. “Barring drugs and water, our stand is that all that is consumed is food,” an official said.

The only exemption in the category of liquor can be made for alcohol which is being produced for use in medicine and toiletries, he added. If the court rules that liquor is indeed food, alcohol companies would have to apply for fresh licences from the Centre.

Liquor companies say regulation of alcoholic beverages – its production, possession, transport, sale and purchase – is strictly and exclusively the domain of state governments, a task they are already implementing effectively. By making an attempt to regulate alcoholic beverages, the Centre is encroaching on states’ jurisdiction, the liquor industry claims in its plea to courts, calling the move ‘illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional’.
Alcohol companies feel multiple regulations will stifle the industry. “Even the quality of alcoholic beverages, which the food regulator is trying to now regulate is currently being governed under State Excise Act and Rules framed by different states. It is almost impossible for the industry to conform to multiple overlapping laws being implemented by multiple authorities. We are juggling between at least three different sets of legislation –State Excise Act and Rules, Food Safety and Standards Act and Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules now which is creating a lot of confusion in the industry,” said Lalit Khaitan, chairman and managing director, Radico Khitan. 

This issue of whether or not alcohol should be excluded from the definition of food was deliberated before the legislation (FSSA) was enforced and the central government took a studied decision to include it in the definition of food to ensure that quality and safety of alcoholic beverages can be maintained, a health ministry official said.

FSSAI Licensng - Deadline extended by 6 months wef 5th August,2012

25July,2012

As per the provisions given under Clause 2.1.2 of Licensing/Registration of Food Business Regulations,2011,the food business operator has to apply for conversion / renewal of registration / license within one year from the date of notification. 


This time period was to expire on 4th August,2012. 


The approval of the Competent Authority is hereby conveyed for extending the time period granted to food business operator for seeking conversion / renewal of licenses by another six months with effect from 5th August, 2012


As per advisory issued by FSSAI vide no. F.No. 1/1/Enf - 1/FSSAI/2012 dated 25th July,2012
CLICK to download the advisory

FSO fury flares in Mumbai, across India; 18 states to protest on July 9

Saturday, July 07, 2012 08:00 IST 
Akshay Kalbag, Mumbai


The controversial implementation of the Food Safety & Standards Regulations 2011, has taken a fiery turn with FBOs (food business operators) in Mumbai, who have so far been out of the protests, going to town about the harassment that they are facing at the hands of food safety officers (FSOs).

The situation in Mumbai, a city where skyscrapers jostle for space with sprawling slums of Dharavi (also a hub for the snack industry), is interesting. On the one hand, FBOs operating from the thickly populated bylanes of the city, have to contend with rodents, dust and overflowing garbage bins over which they have no control, and on the other, they are made to shell out hefty fines "for unhygienic conditions and improper labelling."

This was revealed to F&B News by Karsanbhai, secretary, Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association, who pointed out that there was a petty khari biscuit manufacturer whose unit produced product that was sold loose and not as a packed branded product. However, FSOs who come visiting, fine him amounts ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, on the pretext that he had exposed the product to moisture.

Then there was a dal retailer who was slapped with steep amounts that eventually totalled to Rs 5 lakh as penalties for failing to provide all the vital information on the pack's label, including its weight, its date of manufacture, and its price. Now in India most kirana shops sell dal in loose so "how can they ensure that it is labelled and has all these details," asked Karsanbhai.

That's not all. There are scores of such cases of FBOs being charged under various sections of the Regulations for no apparent fault of theirs.

It is this slapping of false charges and levying of hefty fines that has made the Mumbai Mewa Masala Merchants' Association recently file a petition challenging the implementation of 16 Sections of the Act (pertaining to the unhygienic conditions often seen in small-scale Indian food production units, etc.) in the Bombay High Court, and await the reply. Karsanbhai said, "We are hopeful of a revert in the next couple of days."


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