Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries challenges restrictions on flavoured rum, saying the product has been sold for more than five decades
The maker of Old Monk Rum told the Bombay High Court on Monday that it was losing nearly Rs 1 crore a day following action by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) against certain variants containing added flavouring.
Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries has challenged the regulator’s restrictions, with senior counsel Navroz H. Seervai arguing that Old Monk had been sold for more than 50 years under the applicable regulatory framework.
Seervai said requiring the company to alter its product labelling would effectively amount to an admission that the product had been incorrectly described for decades. He also submitted that there had been no consumer complaints, reported illnesses or other adverse action linked to the affected products.
FSSAI Objects To Flavouring
The dispute follows laboratory tests by FSSAI that detected artificial or nature-identical flavouring substances in the alcoholic beverages. The regulator has objected to such additions in products sold as standardised spirits, arguing that they can mask the characteristic taste and aroma of rum and whisky.
FSSAI’s action covers select Old Monk rum variants manufactured by Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries. It also applies to certain variants of United Spirits’ McDowell’s No. 1 Rum, Antiquity Blue Whisky and Royal Challenge Whisky, as well as Inbrew Beverages’ Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky and Old Cask Deluxe XXX Rum.
The regulator has also inspected Mandexi Distilleries & Breweries in Goa and issued notices to six other manufacturers in Maharashtra.
FSSAI has cited the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018, which require standardised alcoholic beverages such as rum and whisky to possess their characteristic taste and aroma. The regulator’s position is that adding ‘rum flavour’ to rum or ‘whisky flavour’ to whisky does not meet these requirements.
Bombay HC Seeks Centre’s Response
A division bench comprising acting chief justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and justice Gautam A. Ankhad directed the Centre to respond to the manufacturers’ pleas by 19 August.
The court has clubbed Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries’ petition with a separate plea filed by United Spirits. The latter, which had made its submissions before the court on Friday, has argued that the use of flavouring has been an established industry practice for decades.
United Spirits has also questioned the restriction of products that have been sold for years without evidence of a health risk.
The proceedings will now turn on the Centre’s response and the interpretation of the regulatory requirements governing flavouring in standardised alcoholic beverages.
