People can't be made to consume adulterated food products: Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday expressed concerns over the sale of expired food products that are reintroduced in the markets after repackaging and re-branding with new expiry dates, and said that people cannot be made to consume "adulterated" food items.

The high court said no one can be allowed to sell expired items and this cannot be a business.

"People cannot be having adulterated food in Delhi. Give us suggestions on how this can be tackled," a bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said.

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation which was initiated on its own after several such instances of expired products being repackaged with new expiry dates came to light.

Advocate Shwetasree Mazumdar, who was assisting the court as amicus curiae, submitted her report and suggested that a QR code could be generated by the manufacturers for all packed food items which would help in tracking the original expiry dates of the products.

She said legislation dealing with the issue is already in place but the penalties prescribed for violations are not deterrent and they be revisited to ensure greater deterrence.

"Food business operators be directed to mark all food products with a unique alphanumeric code or a QR code that is identifiable by an FSSAI representative by cross-reference to a centralised database, which will reveal the batch number and expiry date of a product immediately and on site, to obviate testing and sampling to ascertain whether expiry dates and other information on the label has been tampered with," the amicus submitted.

She added that this would be similar to the mandatory QR code requirement imposed by the Union health ministry for the tracking and tracing of certain identified pharmaceutical products and would assist in taking expeditious action against violators.

The court asked the authorities to submit suggestions on how they were planning to ramp up the sample collection and testing.

The bench directed the Delhi Police to file a fresh status report in the matter and asked certain alleged counterfeiters, who were found to be selling expired chocolates by re-packaging the same, to be personally present in the court on the next hearing.

"You cannot be selling expired food items. This cannot be a business. Ask your clients to remain personally present in court next time," the bench told the counsel for the alleged counterfeiters.

The court had earlier issued notice to the central government, Delhi government, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Delhi Police, seeking their response on the matter.

The suo motu PIL was initiated after Justice Prathiba M Singh referred the matter to the division bench to be taken up on the judicial side.

Justice Singh was hearing a civil suit filed by the Hershey Company, a well-known chocolate manufacturer, seeking an injunction before the Diwali period against certain rank counterfeiters from selling expired chocolates by re-packaging the same.

She found that the counterfeiters had knowledge of and access to Hershey's mark and packaging and had blatantly copied them misrepresenting their expired and counterfeit chocolates as the plaintiff's products.

The single judge, prima facie, had concluded that the suit revealed an extraordinary situation involving public health, particularly relating to food products.

The division bench, in its January order, had said, "From the order dated December 19, 2023, passed by the single judge, it is apparent that there is a coordinated and systematic mechanism in place by which the expired products are being re-packaged/ re-branded with new expiry dates and are being introduced into the markets."