FSSAI Changes its Order on Labeling Curd and lets to use Regional Names
In response to a dispute in Tamil Nadu over the Hindi word ‘Dahi,’ the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) changed its order on Thursday to allow the use of regional common names on the labels of curd packages.
In a statement released on Thursday, FSSAI said that food business owners can use the word ‘curd’ on the label along with the common regional name.
This statement comes after the Tamil Nadu government said it didn’t like how the food safety authority told curd packages to use the word ‘dahi.’ Aavin said that it will not label its products with the Hindi word ‘dahi.’ The Karnataka Milk Federation and the Kerala Milk Federation are also said to have made similar points.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said, ‘The unapologetic insistence of Hindi Imposition has gone so far as to tell us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, pushing Tamil and Kannada to the background in our own states.’ The people who did this will be kicked out of the South for good if they are so rude about our native languages.
The unrelenting push for #HindiImposition has made it so that we have to write the labels on even curd packets in Hindi, pushing Tamil and Kannada to the side in our own states.
People who act so rudely toward our native languages will be kicked out of the South for good.
The food safety authority said on Thursday, ‘As many comments have been received recently about the omission of the term ‘Curd’ from the Standards of Fermented Milk Products, it has been decided that FBOs may use the term ‘Curd’ along with any other designation (prevalent regional common name) in brackets on the label.’
Prices went up sharply for ghee, ice cream, baby powder, and curd, and there is no relief in sight.
‘Therefore, Curd can also be called ‘Curd (Dahi)’, ‘Curd (Mosaru)’, ‘Curd (Zaamut daud)’, ‘Curd (Thayir),’ or ‘Curd (Perugu’),’ it said.
In January, the agency in charge of food safety announced that the word ‘curd’ would be taken out of the Standards of Fermented Milk Products. Instead, the word ‘dahi’ was used.
‘General Standard for Milk and Milk Products’ in the ‘Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011’ clearly states how dairy terms can be used in the names of dairy products (milk, milk product, or a composite milk product) and how they can’t be used in non-dairy products. So, when the word ‘curd’ was written next to the word ‘Dahi’ in the regulation, it meant that it couldn’t be used for non-dairy products,’ the FSSAI said in a statement.
