The court was dismissing a petition by Amrut Distilleries Limited challenging the refusal of concerned authorities to test samples of imported active dry yeast as the 'Best Before' and 'Expiry' dates on the label of it were same.
Noting that the company had on an earlier occasion too imported product with the same problem and gave an undetaking that it would not repeat the mistake, Justice S Vaidyanathan dismissed the petition with a cost of Rs 30,000.
"The label should contain specific information by which, the consumer should not be misled. If both the dates, viz., 'best before' and 'expiry' are mentioned with same date, it would certainly mislead the consumers since they would be under impression that till the expiry date, the product will be best in all respects, which is practically unacceptable," the Judge said.
The matter related to the import of Active Dry Yeast on September 26, 2014 by the company and the consignment was referred by the Customs Department to FSSAI Chennai for clearance.
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The company had termed as arbitrary the refusal to draw the sample and moved the court.
In the counter-affidavit, FSSAI submitted that there was a distinction between 'best before date' and 'expiry date', whereas, the 'best before date' signifies the duration for which the product shall remain marketable and retain its specific qualities if stored in appropriate conditions and on the other hand, 'expiry date' is the date from which it shall not remain marketable.