Areca growers have objected to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) draft regulation on labelling scented supari (areca).

This follows a draft regulation issued on December 27 by the authority on labelling, which asks the paan masala manufacturers to caution buyer that chewing supari ‘injurious to health’ on the package.

The draft said: “Every package of paan masala and/or and other similar products containing supari (betel nut) as one of the ingredients and advertisements relating thereto shall carry the following warning. Taking objection to this proposal, Srinivasa Achar, President of All-India Areca Growers’ Association, said that supari, (betelnut/arecanut) is not injurious to health. “Supari is being consumed by vast majority for thousands of years without any health hazard. Any additive, if found injurious, may be banned in paan masala packets,” he said. It is wrong to target areca/supari instead of targeting tobacco and liquor, he said.

He told Business Line that the authority has come out with such a draft regulation, based on a suspicious data. “Let them produce the proof for it,” he said.

Stating that areca has known beneficial/medicinal qualities, Achar said it is a healthy product along with spices.

He said that over 30 lakh families grow areca and depend on it for their livelihood.

The association has already filed its objections with the authority, he said.

Any impediment caused to the normal legal trade would divert the trade to grey market leading to reduced revenue. Such an impediment would help pass inferior products clandestinely, and encourage production of spurious goods, he said.

In fact, the need of the hour is to reduce regulation on arecanut trade, and encourage production to expand the markets, he added.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

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