16-07-2025
FSSAI ‘voluntary' rule prompts Pune sweet shops to stop displaying expiry dates on items, poses health risks
Many sweet shops in Pune have stopped displaying information such as manufacturing date, best-before date, and even price tags on their mithai, leaving consumers unable to judge the freshness and quality of the product. This shift comes after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) made date labelling voluntary for loose sweets in November 2023, reversing a 2020 mandate that required such information.
The lack of transparency has raised health concerns, especially after Pune's iconic Good Luck Cafe's licence was suspended temporarily last Sunday over hygiene issues following the detection of a glass piece in a bun maska.
'Sweets, especially milk-based ones, have a limited shelf life and are prone to microbial growth. Consuming expired or stale sweets can lead to food poisoning, headaches, vomiting, gastrointestinal problems, and other digestive issues,' says Dr Neha Patil, a medical practitioner residing at Akurdi.
'Earlier in 2020, after the FSSAI mandate, it became easy to choose mithai based on its freshness. Now, except for a few, in the majority of the sweet shops, the 'best-before date' information is not mentioned. Moreover, even the price tags are missing in many places. This deprives consumers of the ability to make informed choices about the freshness and quality of the sweets they are purchasing,' said Rohan Jadhav, a resident of Dange Chowk.
The Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, introduced the provision of the 'best-before date'. The 2011 regulations were replaced by the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations in 2020.
But the mandate was made 'voluntary' from November 2023 after the FSSAI decided that the scientific panel needs to deliberate further on the declarations of dates on non-packaged or loose products. Since then, the sweet shop owners are rarely seen displaying the said information, affecting transparency and health risk.
When asked about the date display, Kumar (name changed), a sweet shop owner from Nigdi, said, 'As per the revised decision, it is now as per our will to mention manufacturing and best-before date. The FDA officials also rarely ask us about the same, so we decided to remove the information from the tags.'
