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On Thursday, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) told the Bombay High Court that Old Monk cannot be sold as rum. This is because the product is made using neutral spirit and rum flavoring. This comes a few days after the brand was asked not to include the term “7 years old blended” on its labels. FSSAI explained to the court that its main objection was based on the labelling and the nature of the product.
The FSSAI counsel said that the product Old Monk is not permitted to be sold as rum. It mentioned that the product is made using neutral spirit and rum flavoring, which means it can instead be described as a “rum-flavored spirit.”
During a prior hearing on Monday, the company had informed the court that it would be revising the labels by dropping the iconic “7 years old blended” tag and by adding proper information about the flavors.
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The division bench asked the company to present a revised label by Thursday. They instructed the regulator to outline all the specific details that are important for consumers to know. They observed that the iconic tag easily misled consumers into believing that the rum was aged for seven years. The court questioned the manufacturer over certain text that was too small for anybody to read.
Old Monk has submitted the revised labels to the court. The division bench asked the state excise department to review the modified label and to speed up the approval process as well. FSSAI has requested additional time to review; hence, the matter will be heard on 11 September next.
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The senior counsel representing the company, Navroz H. Servai, said it has suffered a loss of INR 1 crore per day for the 120 days since the ban was enforced.
Based on the findings from the laboratory tests, the FSSAI has prohibited the sale of
The Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018, mandate that standardized alcoholic beverages like whisky and rum possess their own taste and aroma. The regulator mentioned that adding whisky flavor to whisky and rum flavor to rum is a case of misrepresentation.
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Old Monk cannot be sold anymore as rum as per FSSAI and also had to drop the iconic tag “7 years old blend”. It has submitted its revised labels for review and approval by FSSAI, and the next hearing will be on September 11.
