Be realistic; we are in India.
When it comes to food safety and standards, Indians will certainly commiserate with this sentiment. After all, not expecting the system to deliver is almost ingrained in the average Indian’s DNA.
So when things actually start moving, it is hardly surprising that those at the vanguard of this activism make headlines. Tukaram Mundhe, Maharashtra’s Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, has been on the warpath, seizing fake milk, adulterated candies, chemical-laced kulfi and more, while ruffling the feathers of everyone from giant corporations to connected politicians.
Mundhe’s hyper-activism has seen him shut down everything from luxury hotels to prestigious canteens. One was Park Inn by Radisson, an upscale hotel in Navi Mumbai where the FDA claimed to have found insects. When the hotel challenged the suspension in the Bombay High Court, the judges quashed the order, questioning how two insects could justify shutting down an entire hotel which had 95 per cent compliance. “Be realistic, we are in India,” one judge famously said while revoking the suspension.
LAW AND ORDER
India may now be at its strongest threshold yet of bringing some semblance of order into its food safety regime.
At the forefront of a nationwide crackdown is the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s top food regulator. Generally known for half-hearted activism, FSSAI seems to have opened its floodgates. It has acted not only on innumerable complaints involving adulterated milk and analogue paneer (made with vegetable fat, starch and emulsifiers to mimic the real thing), but also against big brands like Pepsi, Dabur and Nestle.
It challenged Pepsi’s Sting claim that it was an ‘energy drink’, pointing out that no such category existed. Several popular alcohol brands, including batches of Old Monk and Royal Challenge, were prohibited from sale over bogus claims: the regulator said artificial rum and whisky flavours were being added instead of following conventional distillation and maturation process.
Deceptive claims have received particular scrutiny. Breads marketed as ‘zero maida’ or ‘atta bread’ were targeted after FSSAI found refined flour (maida) as their main ingredient. Other actions covered fruit sweeteners and pharma companies, with violations ranging from misleading health claims to unhygienic storage.
There have been crackdowns across the country. Karnataka FDA raids on Bengaluru’s pubs and five-star hotels uncovered hundreds of kilos of rotten meat, fungus-infected vegetables and expired milk products. The Kerala government intensified sanitary inspections of shops and eateries, while Tamil Nadu banned artificially coloured appalams. Fake manufacturing units have been busted—from Punjab (counterfeit desi ghee in Ludhiana and noodles in Ferozepur) to Uttar Pradesh (fake spices in Kanpur).
“This is a silver lining because we have never seen this kind of coordinated effort,” said Ashim Sanyal, managing trustee of the rights organisation Consumer VOICE.
But the silver lining can hide rumbling clouds.
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF…
On one side is India’s precocious trading culture. From big brands selling vegetable oil-based ‘cheesy’ products to unscrupulous merchants making a killing with analogue paneer, businesses often run on a pure profit mode, with every avenue, fair or foul, considered fair game.
“While the legal framework prohibits false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims, enforcement frequently struggles to keep pace with the scale of the food industry, and the speed at which new products enter the market,” said Sonam Chandwani, managing partner, KS Legal & Associates.
If big brands are just the tip of the iceberg, the informal economy thriving on malpractices is the rest—with authorities barely able to break their cycle of poor standards.
Adulteration of traditional sweets, milk products and spices is so rampant that it raises genuine concerns about public health. Then there are artificially ripened fruits and vegetables. “We have been asking them to essentially mandate that organised retail will only sell ethically ripened produce, not artificially ripened produce,” said Sachin Taparia, founder, chairman and CEO of LocalCircles, an advocacy platform.
TOO MANY COOKS
Another problem is the multiplicity of authorities. India’s food-safety ecosystem is a bureaucratic quagmire. FSSAI is tasked with regulating a vast country with limited staff, constraining its enforcement strength. Its orders involve multiple departments—from consumer protection and legal metrology, to health and information and broadcasting—as well as state FDAs, municipal sanitation officials and the police.
A regulation issued by FSSAI has to be implemented by state FDAs. Each state has an FDA commissioner overseeing food controllers and drug controllers, who in turn have food inspectors and drug inspectors requiring local workers or police assistance to enforce regulations.
“Regulation is only as effective as its enforcement, and consistency in implementation remains India’s biggest challenge,” said Chandwani.
Many feel FSSAI is not keeping pace with market advancements. Arun Gupta, an activist who campaigns against food-product malpractices, pointed out that FSSAI has not implemented front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) for foods high in fat, sugar and highly processed ingredients. Around 40 countries have introduced such warnings in varying forms. Despite health ministry recommendations, FSSAI has yet to order them. It recently submitted a complex table of recommended daily allowances in an ongoing Supreme Court case. “FSSAI is giving us a math problem instead of a [simple] warning,” said Gupta.
FSSAI CEO Rajit Punhani did not respond to THE WEEK’s request for an interview.
BEST BEFORE…
India’s food-safety regime has two major problems. One is a rogue market, where even reputable brands violate rules. The other is monitoring and execution. Regulators are often playing catch-up as companies introduce products requiring new forms of oversight. The result is a food-standards ecosystem that is reactive rather than proactive.
“A stronger regulatory ecosystem,” said Chandwani, “requires not only stricter enforcement but also higher financial penalties, faster adjudication of violations, mandatory scientific substantiation of health and nutrition claims before products reach the market and greater public disclosure of enforcement actions.”
Short of that, Indians might as well take solace with that by-now-famous line: “Be realistic; we are in India.”
