Lok Sabha Question No. 3691 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-25
Subject: Sale of Expired Soft Drinks
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Geetha Viswanath Vanga, Raghu Ramakrishna Raju Kanumuru, Kotha Prabhakar  Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3691

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 th  MARCH, 2022

## SALE OF EXPIRED SOFT DRINKS

## 3691.   SHRIMATI VANGA GEETHA VISWANATH: SHRI KOTHA PRABHAKAR REDDY: SHRI KANUMURU RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  a  team  of  officials  of  the  Food  Safety  Department  are  conducting  regular checks/raids in godowns of manufacturers of branded soft drinks in various States/UTs including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana;
- (b) if so, whether these manufacturers were found selling products that had crossed the expiry dates,  distributing  them  to  shops,  Tasmac  bars,  etc.,  violating  manufacturing  protocols and using unlicensed products; and
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  during  the  last  seven  years  along  with  the  number  of  cases filed/solved/penalty  imposed  along  with  the  other  corrective  stepsbeing  taken  in  this regard?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (c): Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed that, standards of  carbonated water are notified in sub-regulation 2.10.6 (1) of Food Safety and Standards (Food  Products  Standards  &  Food  Additives)  Regulations,  2011.  The  tolerance  limits  for metal contaminants in carbonated water are prescribed in Regulation 2.1.1(2) of Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. All Food Business Operators  manufacturing  carbonated  beverages  are  required  to  ensure  conformance  to  the prescribed standards.

The implementation and enforcement of Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act 2006, Rules and Regulations primarily lies with the State/UT Governments. Regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and sampling of food products are carried out by Food Safety Officers of  States/UTs  and  penal  action  is  taken  against  the  defaulting  Food  Business  Operators (FBOs) as per the provisions of FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations.

FSSAI  has  provided  financial  assistance  to  States/UTs  for  strengthening  of  Food Safety  eco-system  under  MoUs.  The  performance  of  States/UTs  towards  improving  Food Safety Eco-system is monitored quarterly through meetings of Central Advisory Committee, Video Conferencing and States' visits. Further, FSSAI advises Commissioners of Food Safety of States/UTs to carry out targeted enforcement and surveillance drive to check compliance of food products including soft drinks.

As  per  the  reports  received  from  State/UT  Governments,  the  details  of  samples  of various  food  products,  including  soft  drinks,  analysed,  found  non-conforming  and  action taken during the last seven years i.e. year 2014-2015 onwards in respect of all food articles, including soft drinks is as below:

| Year    |   No. of samples analyze d |   No. of samples found non- conforming |   No. of Civil/ Criminal cases Launched |   Convictions |   No. of cases in which Penalties imposed |
|---------|----------------------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|---------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15 |                      75282 |                                  14716 |                                   10675 |          1402 |                                      2795 |
| 2015-16 |                      72499 |                                  16133 |                                    9979 |           540 |                                      3669 |
| 2016-17 |                      78340 |                                  18325 |                                   13080 |          1605 |                                      4757 |
| 2017-18 |                      99353 |                                  24262 |                                   15121 |          5198 |                                      7627 |
| 2018-19 |                     106459 |                                  30415 |                                   21363 |           701 |                                     12734 |
| 2019-20 |                     118775 |                                  29589 |                                   32093 |           828 |                                     18674 |
| 2020-21 |                     107829 |                                  28347 |                                   28064 |           506 |                                     15323 |

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