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New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the hesitation of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). In which it is hesitating to put warning labels on the packets of packaged food products containing excess sugar, salt and saturated fat. Not only this, the Supreme Court expressed strong displeasure over the attitude of the Central Government and FSSAI and asked whether the officers are under pressure from corporates? After this the court bluntly said that if you cannot do this, we will do it.

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The Supreme Court told the Center and FSSAI that this matter is to the health of citizens, especially the aging children, and the decisions to it should not be influenced by the pressure of corporate houses. Hearing a PIL, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran came down heavily on FSSAI when the petitioner pointed out that it was against the idea of ​​food body labelling. Let us tell you that the court had earlier also asked FSSAI to consider putting such warning labels in the interest of public health.

FSSAI hesitant in implementing warning Today, the Court took serious note of the fact that based on the minutes of the meeting of the Food Standards Watchdog, FSSAI is hesitant in implementing such a method. The petitioner's lawyer, citing the minutes of the FSSAI meeting held on March 7, said that the decisions taken in it were completely contrary to the earlier instructions of the court. Citing industry opposition to warning labels on food packets, FSSAI has suggested declaring the daily requirement of added sugar, saturated fat and salt in tables.

Government bowing to the pressure of corporate lobby

It was reported that FSSAI's affidavit only mentioned opposition from the food industry, but ignored evidence provided by civil society representatives in favor of warning labels to help prevent consumption of foods high in added saturated fat, sugar and salt. On this, the court asked whether FSSAI is bowing down to corporate entities involved in food manufacturing.

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Are you fooling the court?

The bench said, are you fooling the court? There is a lot of pressure on you from all these corporate houses. And you are succumbing to that pressure! We are doing this in public interest. Keep this in mind. We're not doing this for ourselves. Why are you not following our order? what have you done so far? We know the pressure on you. Will you do it yourself or should we pass an order?” The court was also not impressed by the fact that if such warning labels were imposed, many Indian food items like namkeen would also be labeled as being high in fat, sugar or salt. The court asked, don't you want the people of this country to be healthy? Especially growing children?”

Is the government ready to take necessary action?

The bench asked direct questions to Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Brijendra Chahar, appearing for the Centre. The court asked whether the government was not ready to take necessary action and reiterated that the court order was clear. The bench also said that the government is under a lot of pressure from big corporate companies and it is “bowing down to that pressure. The court said that it is taking this action in “public interest”. The court angrily asked, will the government itself do this, or will we have to issue an order?” ASG Brijendra Chahar requested the court to allow him to tell about the government's action plan, but the court clearly said that the government will have to do exactly what the court has said. The bench reiterated that if you cannot do this, we will pass the order.

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