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The Delhi High Court connected Tuesday (April 7, 2026) struck down a Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regularisation that prohibited the merchantability of carnal provender containing nutrient oregon bony repast of bovine oregon porcine root for milk-producing animals.
A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, are lone successful narration to regulating nutrient for quality consumption, which arsenic per the strategy of the Act and its object, would not see cattle provender oregon carnal feed.
The tribunal explained that the 2006 Act explicitly defined “food” successful the Act arsenic immoderate substance, processed oregon partially processed oregon unprocessed, which is intended for quality consumption.
“At assorted places successful the Act, the expressions similar “food safety”, “primary food”, “unsafe food”, “sale of food” etc., occur, nevertheless specified expressions, successful our opinion, could not see immoderate provender oregon nutrient not meant for quality depletion specified arsenic cattle provender oregon carnal feed,” the tribunal said.
The court’s absorption came connected a petition by Godrej Agrovet Limited, which is engaged successful manufacturing and selling of carnal feed, cattle feed, poultry provender etc., and different cultivation inputs, challenging the Note (c) appended to the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
As per the Note, beverage and meat-producing animals, excluding poultry, pig and fish, shall not beryllium fed with provender containing nutrient oregon bony meal, including interior organs, humor repast and insubstantial of bovine oregon porcine root materials, but beverage and beverage products. It besides mandates that commercialized feeds comply with BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards).
The tribunal remarked that the Note regulates provender to beryllium fixed to milk- and meat-producing animals. “In different words, it regulates the cattle oregon carnal feed, which is intelligibly extracurricular the scope of the 2006 Act successful the consciousness that the precise strategy of the Act is specified that the provisions therein tin beryllium enactment to work lone to modulate the nutrient for quality depletion and not the provender for helium usage of cattle oregon animals,” the tribunal said.
Voluntary compliance
On the regularisation that requires that commercialized provender shall comply with the BIS standards, the tribunal said, “Such prescription, successful our opinion, is besides beyond the scope of the Act, 2006, for the crushed that the provisions contained successful Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, supply that compliance with the applicable BIS standards is voluntary and not mandatory whereas the impugned Regulation makes the aforesaid to beryllium mandatory”.
The court, however, stated, “It is not that autarkic of the Act, 2006, and the impugned regulations, BIS standards cannot beryllium made mandatory for commercialized feeds. However, for that purpose, due recourse would person to beryllium taken by the respondents to the applicable provisions of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, and the rules framed thereunder”.
