FSSAI refused to accept Old Monk as rum, the company agreed to change the label

The Old Monk Controversy: Old Monk, one of India’s most popular liquor brands, has been off sale in Maharashtra from May-June this year. Behind the sudden disappearance of this much-loved winter drink is a simple question, is it really rum? The country’s food regulator i.e. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) says that this is not rum. After this controversy, the company that manufactures it in Khopoli has withdrawn its petition from the Bombay High Court on Thursday. The company has said that it will now submit the new labels to FSSAI.

What is the regulator’s objection to the Old Monk label?

The whole controversy started with the bottle label. FSSAI says that rum flavor has been added to this drink from outside. But the bottle label does not clearly state whether it is flavored liquor or rum flavored spirit. According to the regulator, consumers are being misled by hiding this fact. During a court hearing in September, FSSAI’s counsel Rajashekhar Govilkar had made it clear that it cannot be sold as rum.

His argument was that a product made by adding the external flavor of rum to a neutral spirit could not be called rum. Apart from this, the regulator also objected to the 7-year-old blend’s claim written on the bottle. Govilkar told the court that the flavored product was not aged in a special wooden barrel. FSSAI has stipulated that it will allow its sale only if the label reads like rum instead of rum.

The company presented its side in the court

Mohan Rocky Springwater Private Limited, a company associated with the Mohan Meekin Group, approached the Bombay High Court in August challenging the FSSAI order. The company’s lawyer, Navroz Sirvai, argued that they were making genuine rum from neutral, rectified, distilled spirits within the limits of the law. On August 10, the court sought a reply from FSSAI and refused to lift the ban on sales on August 31. After the court’s oral objections, the company submitted the changed label on September 3. The added flavor was clearly spelled out, and the 7-year-old blended tag was removed.

But the regulator was not happy with this. His only objection was that the product was called rum. The bench then asked FSSAI’s counsel whether now the company has to change its product. The lawyer said that he could not say anything about it. Finally, on November 5, the company withdrew its plea before a bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi. The company said its appeal is pending with the statutory authority under the Food Safety Act, 2006. Now the company will submit the new labels to FSSAI, on which the regulator will take its decision.

Impact on other brands, the government has to pay Rs. 350 crore loss

This action of FSSAI is not limited to old monks. The regulator has cracked down on all liquor companies that are adding rum or whiskey flavor to the spirit and selling it without proper labelling. United Spirits Ltd, the company that makes McDowell’s No. 1, also went to court over the matter, but later withdrew its plea as well. He did not tell the court what his next step would be.

Liquor companies have warned that the country’s entire spirits industry could come to a standstill due to the crackdown. The government has also suffered a huge loss due to this ban. Last month, on October 12, the company’s lawyer Venkatesh Dhonde told the High Court that the state excise department had to pay around Rs. 350 crores of revenue has been lost.