How to File a Consumer Complaint Against Adulteration of Food

The FSSAI has set out certain rules and regulations to prevent food adulteration in India. If any such incident of adulteration occurs, you can file a complaint about it. This article will explain how to file a consumer complaint against the adulteration of food.

Have you ever bought stale food, infested with worms, or contaminated? If so, what steps did you take to ensure this does not happen again? Most of us have to deal with food safety concerns from time to time, but only a few of us do anything about it. While there is absolute importance to food safety in foreign countries, in India, consumers are not fully aware of their rights regarding this issue. Hence, they do not react enough when they witness food safety regulations being violated.

Contaminated and adulterated food products not only reduce the nutritional value of the product but also lead to ailments and health hazards. That is why food businesses need to follow the food safety guidelines laid down by FSSAI. 

What Are the Objectives of Food Safety?

• Protection from harmful food products
• Prohibition of the business of sub-standard provisions
• Protection of consumer interest
• Prevention of deceitful practices related to food

If any person manufactures for sale, stores, imports for sale or distributes any article of food that is adulterated or misbranded, he is liable under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954 to be punished with imprisonment and fines.

What Is Food Alteration? 

As per Section 2 (A) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, adulteration may occur with any food item if:

• It houses any product that can cause injury to the consumer’s health
• the food is prepared in a manner such that it affects the user’s health adversely
• the food has a cheaper substitute added to it, which adversely affects the user’s health
• any product that was used in the making of the final food product may adversely affect the consumer, compromising its quality.

In short, any substance in solid, liquid or gaseous form that, when mixed with the food product, or when removed from the product, makes the final product unhealthy or injurious to a consumer’s health is food that is adulterated.

Prevention of Food Adulteration

As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, of 2006, people who perform acts that result in food contamination may face the following penalization:

1. Any individual who sells any material which is not, as per the consumer’s demand or provision, is liable to pay a maximum fine of ₹5 lakh if found guilty.
2. Anyone who manufactures, stores, sells, distributes, or imports any sub-standard food item, any food item which contains decayed matter or any item stored in unhygienic conditions is liable to pay a penalty which may extend up to ₹5 lakh.
3. Anyone who manufactures, stores, distributes, or imports any misbranded food-related product against the prerequisites stated by the Act might face a penalization of up to ₹3 lakh.
4. Any person who issues a misguided advertisement misrepresenting food quality or provides consumers false guarantees might have to pay up to ₹10 lakh.
5. If anyone distributes a non-severe adulterant, they may face a fine of up to ₹1 lakh, but if the adulterant is harmful to health, the fine may rise to ₹10 lakh.
6. If there is any violation of the law as mentioned by the Act, a fine of ₹2 lakh shall be imposed.

What Are the Frequently Occurring Problems?

• Presence of worms, insects, dust particles, or fungus in foods and beverages
• Adulteration of dairy products such as ghee and milk
• Adulteration of spices or spice powders
• Sale of expired packaged food

What Are the Issues a Consumer Can Complain Against?

• Sale of expired food items 
• Dust, insects, worms or fungus on food
• Any form of adulteration
• Incorrect packing
• Incomplete/ insufficient/improper information on a food label 
• Misleading commercials
• No address of maker/ marketer
• No list of harmful ingredients like MSG 
• Lack of warnings 

How to File a Complaint? 

If you get to know or see a company, hotel or individual taking part, assisting, or perpetrating food contamination, they may file a complaint against the manufacturer, restaurant owner, shopkeeper, or employer. For this, you must visit the Local Health Authority, Food Safety Authority’s district commissioner, or the Consumer Forum.

You can approach the Consumer Forum at any of the three levels: district level, state level, or national level. The complaints which are registered this way will have original jurisdiction at district levels and further appellate court at a state or federal level.

Consumers can contact the FSSAI food license through an online platform called the ‘Food Safety Voice’. This platform gives people the right to register complaints regarding adulterated, substandard, or unsafe food, and poor labeling or misleading ads associated with food products.

1. You can also file an online complaint on the FoSCoS website
2. Or you can file a complaint using the Food Safety Connect app, which you can download from the Google Play Store.
3. Once you are on the website or app, choose the right category: Packaged Food or Premises
4. Identify the issue
5. Describe the issue with relevant pictures
6. Submit the complaint 

For misleading advertisements, you can file a complaint to the Advertising Standards Council of India. To do so,

1. Go here
2. Fill in the required details
3. Add a description and a video as proof
4. Submit the complaint

Food Adulteration Complaint: Problems that Occur Frequently

Common Instances of Food Adulteration

Various instances of food contamination are frequently observed, including:

1. Presence of insects, worms, dust particles, or fungus in food and beverages.
2. Adulteration of dairy products, such as milk and ghee.
3. Contamination of spices or spice powders.
4. Sale of packaged food items beyond their expiry date.

Consumers should also be aware of the problems for which they can file complaints with the food safety authority. Common occurrences that warrant complaints include:

1. Sale of food items that have exceeded their expiration date AKA complaint about expired food
2. Presence of dust, insects, worms, or fungus in food products AKA complaint against food quality
3. Incorrect packaging of food items.
4. Incomplete, insufficient, or improper information on food labels.
5. Misleading advertisements.
6. Absence of the maker’s/marketer’s address on the packaging.
7. Failure to list harmful ingredients like MSG.
8. Lack of necessary warnings.
9. Any other form of contamination as defined by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 AKA food adulteration complaint.

Secure your rights and remedies by applying for a legal notice for defective goods today.

Compensatory Remedies For Victim Of Food Adulteration

As per the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, compensatory remedies for victims can be granted under Section 65 of the Act. If any person, either directly or through another party, manufactures a food article that poses a threat to the consumer’s health or can lead to death, the manufacturer is liable to pay compensation to the victim. 

The prescribed fines are as follows:

1. A minimum of five lakh rupees in the case of death.
2. Not exceeding three lakh rupees in the case of serious or grievous injury.
3. Not surpassing one lakh rupees in other cases of injury.

It is important to note that such compensation must be provided within six months, and interim relief in the event of a person’s death should be sent to the victim’s family within thirty days.

Food Safety Connect

This program has been launched to make consumers aware that food safety is their right, and that they must protect it. This effort by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India helps consumers submit complaints regarding the violation of food safety online. Through this initiative, people can complain about everything from an expired product being sold, to finding food products in compromising packaging. They may file complaints by attaching photos to serve as further proof.

The Takeaway

Above 60% of the premature deaths that occur in India, are in some way related to food adulteration.  Most people, especially in rural areas, are unaware that food is sometimes mixed with harmful chemicals, and they unknowingly consume such food, leading to ill health and in some cases, death. Nowadays, the government is taking active steps to raise awareness about such issues, to prevent such mishaps. By following the good practices mentioned above, let us all strive to avoid food adulteration and hence reduce ill-health and deaths due to the same.