#Food Safety and Standards Act

Delhi High Court ruled that the FSSAI cannot seize Enerzal drinks labelled “electrolyte” without first issuing a Section 32 improvement notice, granting a stay on the May 26 notice and related seizures. This obliges regulators to follow the statutory pre-seizure procedure, safeguarding food manufacturers and ensuring due process for state food-safety authorities.

Bombay HC clarifies that offences under FSSA attracting up to seven years' imprisonment trigger Section 35(3) BNSS compliance for anticipatory bail. Applicants must attend police stations per written notice or face arrest, subject to next hearing on 11 August 2026.

Bombay HC grants anticipatory bail to applicant in gutka seizure case, citing lack of evidence connecting him to the crime and false antecedent claims by the investigating officer. Court also directs show-cause notice to the IO for misrepresentation.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that an unexplained delay in the food analysis report, coupled with a marginal 1.2% deviation from standards, renders a penalty under Section 51 of the FSS Act unsustainable. This sets a critical precedent for food businesses: procedural lapses by authorities can override minor non-compliance, reinforcing due process over strict liability in food safety enforcement.

The Bombay High Court has ruled that prior criminal history, without evidence of flight risk or threat to investigation, cannot be the sole ground to reject anticipatory bail under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Food Safety Act. This reinforces the Supreme Court’s stance in Ayub Khan and protects accused persons from automatic denial based on past charges - even when facing serious non-bailable offences.

Allahabad HC quashes 20-year-old prosecutions under the repealed Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, ruling that continuing proceedings under a repealed statute constitutes abuse of process. The judgment mandates quashing of all pending PFA Act cases post-enactment of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, impacting food industry stakeholders facing legacy prosecutions.

The Bombay High Court granted anticipatory bail to an accused in a food safety case where the alleged contraband was recovered from a co-accused’s premises, not his own, and the legal validity of BNS Section 123 remains under Supreme Court review. This ruling reinforces that mere association through disclosure, without physical possession or direct evidence, cannot justify pre-arrest detention - especially when the statute’s applicability is unsettled, protecting individuals from speculative prosecution under untested provisions.

Allahabad HC rules that penalties under the Food Safety Act must consider the offender's lack of knowledge, absence of quantifiable gain, and non-repetitive nature of the violation. The court reduced a Rs. 3 lakh fine to Rs. 60,000, emphasizing proportionality in enforcement for small vendors unaware of misbranding.

MP High Court reinforces that limitation rules must serve justice, not technicality, by condoning a 25-day delay in filing an appeal under the Food Safety and Standards Act. The ruling emphasizes that inadvertent delays with sufficient cause warrant condonation, protecting appellants from procedural rigidity.

Bombay High Court clarifies conditions for anticipatory bail in offences under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, emphasizing cooperation with investigation.