New Delhi, April 7 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday overturned an FSSAI directive mandating that animals producing milk and meat should not be fed with feed containing meat or bone meal.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, related to the regulation of "food for human consumption," did not include cattle feed or animal feed, and therefore, FSSAI has no power to issue such a directive.
The court passed the verdict on a petition by Godrej Agrovet Ltd challenging the FSSAI regulation, which stated that milk and meat-producing animals, excluding poultry, pigs, and fish, should not be fed with feed containing meat or bone meal.
The directive prohibited any such feed that included internal organs, blood meal, and tissue materials of bovine or porcine origin, except for milk and milk products.
The court stated that any regulation made by the food authority to regulate cattle feed or animal feed exceeded the scope of its power.
The petition also challenged FSSAI's orders directing that commercial feeds or feed materials intended for food-producing animals must comply with BIS standards.
In its judgment, the court said that FSSAI's prescription requiring commercial feed to comply with BIS standards was also beyond the scope of the law, as such compliance was voluntary in nature.
The court stated that the authorities could not produce any order issued by the central government mandating BIS standards for commercial feeds.
"In our opinion, the impugned Regulation, as well as the directions dated 10.12.2019, 27.01.2020 and 01.01.2021, are illegal and therefore not tenable, being ultra vires to the Act, 2006. The writ petition is allowed and Note (c) appended to Regulation 2.5.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011, is hereby quashed. The directives dated 10.12.2019, 27.01.2020 and 01.01.2021 issued by the Food Authority are also quashed," the court said.