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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
K. S. Radhakrishnan & Dipak Misra, JJ.
Centre for Public Interest Litigation - Petitioner
Versus
Union of India and Others - Respondents
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 681 OF 2004
Decided On : October 22, 2013.
The provisions of the FSS Act and PFA Act and the rules and regulations framed thereunder have to be interpreted and applied in the light of the Constitutional Principles, discussed above and endeavour has to be made to achieve an appropriate level of protection of human life and health. Considerable responsibility is cast on the Authorities as well as the other officers functioning under the above mentioned Acts to achieve the desired results. Authorities are also obliged to maintain a system of control and other activities as appropriate to the circumstances, including public communication on food safety and risk, food safety surveillance and other monitoring activities covering all stages of food business. (Para 22)
We, therefore, direct the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India, to gear up their resources with their counterparts in all the States and Union Territories and conduct periodical inspections and monitoring of major fruits and vegetable markets, so as to ascertain whether they conform to such standards set by the Act and the Rules. (Para 24)
Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006- Section 13(4) - Food Safety and the Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Rules framed thereunder- Enforcement by the authorities functioning under these legislations- The Act provides for a machinery for examining the grievances and if a citizen has got any complaint with regard to the ingredients of any soft drinks, he can approach the machinery. (Para 7)
Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006- Section 21- The above mentioned section provides that no article of food shallcontain insecticides or pesticides, veterinary drugs residues, antibioticresidues, solvent residues, pharmacological active substances and micro-biological counts in excess of such tolerance limit as may be specified bythe regulations. It also provides that no insecticide shall be useddirectly on articles of food except fumigants registered and approved underthe Insecticide Act, 1968. (Para 12)
Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006- Section 24 - The above mentioned Section provides for restrictions on advertising of any food which misleads or contravenes the provisions of the FSS Act or the rules and regulations framed thereunder. It also provides for prohibition as to any unfair trade practice for the purpose of promoting sale, supply, use and consumption of articles of food or adoption of any unfair or deceptive practice to mislead the public regarding the standards, quality, quantity, usefulness or giving of any guarantee of the efficacy that is not based on an adequate or scientific justification thereof. (Para 13)
Facts of the case :
The writ petition was preferred for constituting an independent Expert/Technical Committee to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of the children, and also for a direction to Union of India to put in place a regulatory regime which could control and check the contents in a particular chemical additive in foods, including soft drinks. Further, direction was also sought to make it mandatory for the soft drinks manufacturers to disclose the contents and their specific quantity on the labels of soft drinks, including appropriate warnings, qua a particular ingredient, and its harmful effects on the people. Petitioner has also sought for a direction to to check and control the misleading advertising of soft drinks, particularlyadvertisements targeted at children, unwary uneducated and illiteratepeople.
Findings of the Court :
Adequate provisions have already been made and Rules and Regulations are in force for prescribing labelling requirements as per Rule 32 to Rule 44 of PFA Rules, 1955. As per Rule 32 of PFA Rules, as amended vide notification GSR (E) dated 19.9.2008, declaration of all the ingredients of the food products and in particular soft drinks, is required to be made in the descending order and Nutritional Information is also required to be declared.
Result : Writ Petition is disposed of with directions
JUDGMENT
K. S. Radhakrishnan, J.
1. The writ petition was preferred for constituting an independent Expert/Technical Committee to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of the children, and also for a direction to respondent No. 1 – Union of India – to put in place a regulatory regime which could control and check the contents in a particular chemical additive in foods, including soft drinks. Further, direction was also sought for against respondent no. 1 to make it mandatory for the soft drinks manufacturers to disclose the contents and their specific quantity on the labels of soft drinks, including appropriate warnings, qua a particular ingredient, and its harmful effects on the people. Petitioner has also sought for a direction to respondent no. 1 to check and control the misleading advertising of soft drinks, particularly advertisements targeted at children, unwary uneducated and illiterate people.
2. The Union of India and other respondents have maintained the stand that the Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006 (the FSS Act), along with its Rules and Regulations framed thereunder, constitute a vigorous regulatory regime, which takes care of all the above mentioned situations and provisions of the FSS Act and the Rules and Regulations are being enforced scrupulously and meticulously. Over and above, it was pointed, in pursuance to the orders passed by this Court on 8.2.2011 and 15.4.2011, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (for short “the Food Authority”) examined the various grievances raised by the petitioner and passed the order on 12.9.2012. The findings recorded in the order dated 12.9.2012 passed by the Food Authority would allay all the fears and apprehensions raised by the writ petitioner and in any view the same could be taken care of by the authorities functioning under the provisions of the FSS Act as well as the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder. Further, it was also pointed out that if the petitioner or any other citizen has any grievance, he can always approach the statutory authorities functioning under the FSS Act and, hence, no further directions are called for from this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
3. We have gone through the various provisions of the FSS Act, the Food Safety and the Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Rules framed thereunder, etc. In our view, by and large, the various grievances raised by the petitioner are seen covered by the above mentioned legislations, but the question is only with regard to their enforcement by the authorities functioning under these legislations.
4. We have already indicated that the main apprehension of the petitioner is that there is no proper regulatory regime in place to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of children and also there is no mechanism to control and check the contents in particular chemical additive in food, including soft drinks. Petitioner also submitted that, though two separate scientific panels for additives, labelling and advertising were constituted on the basis of the directions given by this Court, the petitioner’s grievances regarding the ingredients of soft drinks were considered by the scientific panel on labelling and advertising and not by the scientific panel on food additives. Petitioner submitted that the issue could have been considered by the scientific panel for food additives only and not by the panel which has been constituted to consider issues of labelling and advertising. The petitioner also submitted that even the recommendations made by the Ganguly Committee were not followed by the above mentioned committees. Ganguly Committee has recommended for a “well controlled studies to assess effects of consumption of carbonated water o
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