Pepsi chips were larvae-infested!

If they are used,then burden will be on the manufacturer to prove that they were in good condition,the court said.

Licensing officer,Pune FDA,had passed an order against Pepsico in June 2009,suspending license of its plant at Ranjangaon,Pune,where potato chips are manufactured,for two days.

The order followed inspection of Pepsico plant by the officer when he received the complaint that larvae were found in oatmeal product of the company. The inspection revealed that spinach powder and besan (gram floor) used in the production of chips were past their ‘best before’ date.

Inspection also found that cleanliness was not up to the mark in some places inside the plant.

Pepsico challenged this order first before appellate authority,and later before the Bombay High Court.

Senior Counsel Janak Dwarkadas,representing Pepsico,argued that expiry of ‘best before’ period did not mean that even after the expiry of the best before period,the food was not fit for use.

It was for the FDA officers to test and establish that raw materials were actually unsatisfactory,he argued.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud however held that “we see no reason why the manufacturer of the Potato Chips or any other final product should be permitted to use the raw material/s beyond their ‘best before’ date without getting raw materials tested to ensure that they are satisfactory”.

“For the purposes of inquiry as to whether there the conditions of license are complied with or not,it is not necessary for the licensing authority to get the sample of the raw material and the finished product tested,” the court held in the ruling pronounced yesterday.

However,the court also said that it was not sure whether license could be suspended for these lapses,and sent the matter back to FDA appellate authority for a fresh consideration.