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Baba Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Ayurved is now under the food safety regulator’s scanner for its recently launched instant noodles. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has said that while Patanjali Ayurved has approvals to manufacture a range of products, it does not have a nod for making instant noodles.
The company, however, has defended itself. In a statement on Wednesday, Patanjali Ayurved said it is not in any violation of FSSAI norms and that it has got a licence in the central category for pasta. The company claims that according to the FSSAI norms, noodles come under the pasta category.
This development has highlighted the fact that there is no approval mechanism for non-specified products in the country.
“The FSSAI has given us, in the pasta category, a licence for relabeling, under which we have entered into agreement with various companies that have the licences for making noodles,” the statement added.
The company also said that as per the direction issued in August, the food safety regulator had said that it is not possible for it to continue with the product approval advisory process.
Industry experts say that the central category licence needs to be amended so that approvals for making non-standardised products like noodles, which is not the same as pasta, can be given. But the Supreme Court had quashed FSSAI’s product approval advisory for such non-specified products, such as proprietary and novel foods, which was introduced in May 2013.
The Bombay High Court had said the advisory has no statutory backing. In August 2015, the Supreme Court had upheld the judgment of the Bombay High Court.
After which, the FSSAI had said that the product approval has ceased to remain operative and that it will, “expedite the regulations governing section 22 products”. This had led to a lot of confusion in the food processing industry.
Kunal Kishore, Joint Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, said that after the food product approval advisory was struck down by the Supreme Court, the FSSAI should have come out with guidelines for food business operators till new regulations were in place.
Amit Dhanuka, President of the All India Food Processors Association, said the FSSAI’s move to question Patanjali is regressive, especially after the Supreme Court had quashed the product approval advisory. He said companies that make products made of approved ingredients and additives cannot wait to launch their products till the new product approval regulations are brought in.
“We will oppose such decisions aggressively and may approach the PMO,” he added.
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