On Thursday, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) revised its order, permitting the use of regional names on printed labels of curd packets amidst political controversy in Tamil Nadu.
Food Business Operators (FBOs) are now permitted to include the term ‘curd’ along with any other widely used regional common name in brackets on the label. For instance, ‘Curd (Dahi)’ or ‘Curd (Mosaru),’ ‘Curd (Zaamutdaud),’ ‘Curd (Thayir),’ ‘Curd (Perugu)’ can be utilized, as stated by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The revision of the order was prompted by several recent representations highlighting concerns about the exclusion of the term ‘curd’ from the Standards of Fermented Milk Products, with only the word ‘Dahi’ being specified.
The controversy erupted when the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, known for selling dairy products under the brand name Aavin, declined to use the Hindi term ‘Dahi’ in its printed sachets as directed by FSSAI. Instead, the federation insisted on exclusively using the Tamil word ‘Thayir’.
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On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin decried the move as an attempt to ”impose Hindi”. Dairy Development Minister SM Nasar said the government had received a letter asking it to implement the directive before August.
“The unabashed insistences of #HindiImposition have come to the extent of directing us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, relegating Tamil & Kannada in our own states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever,” Stalin said in a tweet.
BJP state unit chief K Annamalai has said the notification was not in tandem with the Centre’s policy of promoting regional languages.
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