The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant interim relief to Thane-based Udupi Swaad restaurant, which challenged the suspension of its food licence by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the alleged serving of banned analogue paneer.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam A Ankhad declined to stay the FDA's action and questioned whether the restaurant had clearly informed customers that it was serving analogue, rather than dairy-based, paneer.
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The court described the situation as “poetic justice”, observing that the restaurant should face the consequences after allegedly serving food that customers had not knowingly ordered. The bench stressed that consumers have a right to know what they are eating and questioned how a substitute could be served without proper disclosure.
The restaurant had challenged an August 11 FDA order suspending its licence after officials found that it was serving analogue paneer. It argued that the FDA should have first issued an improvement notice under Section 32 of the Food Safety and Standards Act before taking action.
The court remained unconvinced by the argument, despite the restaurant assuring the bench that it would not use analogue paneer again.
The licence suspension followed a laboratory test in June that reportedly found the restaurant's paneer sample to be unsafe and substandard. The action comes amid a Maharashtra government ban on the manufacture, distribution and sale of non-dairy analogue paneer over food safety and public health concerns.
Analogue paneer is a non-dairy substitute made using ingredients such as vegetable fats, starches, emulsifiers and other additives instead of milk. It is generally cheaper to produce than conventional dairy paneer.
The state's enforcement measures provide for severe penalties in cases involving unsafe food, including fines of at least Rs10 lakh and potentially life imprisonment if consumption results in death, according to NDTV.
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The High Court directed the FDA to file its reply by September 2 and scheduled the next hearing for September 7. The ruling underscores the court's emphasis on food safety and consumers' right to accurate information about the food they purchase and consume.
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