The Delhi High Court has ordered all its restaurants that they need to provide every details of the ingredients used in each of their food items. The order is applied for both vegetarian and non vegetarian food items. The order has been applied by high court in order to male every citizen of the state aware what food items they are waiting under Right to Information section.
The disclosure should not only be by their code names but also by disclosing as to whether they originate from plant or animal source, or whether they are manufactured in a laboratory, irrespective of their percentage in the food article, said the court.
“It should also be fairly disclosed as to what is the plant source, or animal source — as the case may be, in respect of all the ingredients in whatever measure they are used,” said the Division Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh.
“Food Safety and Standards Authority of India should verify all such claims made by the Food Business Operators, and the connivance or failure on the part of the FSSAI or its officers to perform their duties shall expose all such officers to claims by the aggrieved parties, and prosecution under the law,” said the court.
The order has been passed in a petition filed by Ram Gaua Raksha Dal, a non-governmental trust, which has argued that they want their ‘right to know’ to be respected. The trust wanted the authorities to strictly implement the existing rules on labelling of food products and cosmetics. It also argued that these rules should be made mandatory for all other items.
