Stating that mushrooming instances of hotels and eateries stocking and supplying expired food cannot be treated as stray violations of regulatory norms, the High Court of Karnataka has said that such instances “reveal a disturbing malaise creeping into the hospitality industry, where the hunger for profit has, in some cases, overshadowed the basic obligation to safeguard consumers’ health.”
The court’s observations assumes importance amid recent raids by authorities on hotels and other establishments. “Surprise inspections cannot remain occasional exercises undertaken only after public outrage erupts. Food safety requires constant vigilance, rigorous traceability of expired stock, prompt destruction of articles unfit for consumption and consequences sufficiently stringent to ensure that treating the consumer’s health as expendable never becomes a profitable business model,” the court observed.
Taking note of recent enforcement actions that have disclosed alleged rackets employing methods to push expired products back into the stream of commerce, the court said increasing recurrence of such discoveries must awaken the regulatory machinery. Pointing out that a customer who eats in hotels with an implicit faith that what reaches his plate is wholesome, hygienic and fit for human consumption, the court said that the customer cannot be expected to enter the kitchen and scrutinise every packet for its expiry date or examine the origin of every ingredient before taking a morsel. “Customers’ trust is the very foundation for food industry,” the court said.
