Mumbai: Bombay high court has quashed and set aside criminal proceedings against Britannia Dairy Pvt Ltd over allegations of fungus in a sample of cheese cubes. It held that the company was denied rights under Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act as it was issued a notice after expiration of the product’s shelf life.“Allowing the criminal proceedings to continue in their present form would amount to a clear abuse of the process of the court,” said Justice Ranjitsinha Bhonsale on Sept 11.The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Britannia Industries. It also markets Britannia Cheese Cubes (Sour Cream and Onion), manufactured by Schreiber Dynamix Dairies Limited. On July 30, 2013, Food and Drugs Administration’s food safety officer P S Pawar collected four packets from an outlet in a Ghatkopar West mall. The product was packed on Feb 12, 2013, with a nine-month shelf life ending on Nov 12, 2013. The food analyst’s Aug 14, 2013, report stated that the product was infested with fungus and was unsafe. On May 17, 2014, Pawar issued a notice to Britannia. The laboratory test report was not forwarded to it. Pawar filed a complaint on July 28, 2014, and the magistrate ordered issuance of process the same day.Justice Bhonsale said a perusal of FSS Act and Rules clearly indicates that Britannia had a right to receive a notice when a sample was taken for analysis. It had the option to analyse a fourth part of the sample by any accredited laboratory, he said. “In view thereof, the rights available to the applicant under FSS Act have been denied,” he added.Agreeing with senior advocate Aabad Ponda for Britannia, the judge said the magistrate’s order “is clearly a rubber stamp order and does not indicate or reflect any application of mind”. The “peculiar circumstances of the present case”, specifically the delay in issuing the notice, non-supply of laboratory testing report, deprivation of the applicant’s statutory right to have the food sample tested and to file an appeal “render the continuation of the proceedings entirely untenable”, he said.
