‘Suffer’: Bombay HC’s wrath shifts from FDA to Thane’s Udupi restaurant over ‘analog’ paneer

The Bombay High Court has directed a Thane restaurant to "suffer" for using banned analog paneer, following a previous criticism of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Udupi Swaad restaurant from Thane was brought before the court on August 11 in a plea against the FDA's decision to suspend its food license for serving the synthetic paneer.

The court emphasized that the restaurant must first endure the consequences of its actions, which led to people suffering from consuming the unsafe food. Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge remarked that the court would take a strict stance on the matter.

The FDA suspended the restaurant's license after a June report revealed that its paneer sample was found to be unsafe and substandard. The petitioner argued that the FDA had not provided a mandatory improvement notice under Section 32 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, leading to the closure of the restaurant and resulting in financial, livelihood, and reputational losses. FDA's Additional Government Pleader Vikrant Parshurami defended the action, citing the state-wide prohibition on analog paneer.

During the hearing, the Acting Chief Justice questioned the restaurant about its advertising practices and urged it to inform customers that it was serving analog paneer instead of the actual paneer. The court also emphasized that customers may not be aware of what they are eating and that the restaurant should clearly indicate the difference to avoid misleading them.

The petitioner assured the court that analog paneer would not be served again. The court granted the FDA an opportunity to respond and adjourned the matter to September 7.