Here's To EU...

Surprise, surprise! Suddenly, most sections involved in the ongoing soft drinks battle are on the same side of the table—and pitched against the government. What has triggered this alignment is the recent draft notification issued by the Union ministry of health, setting extremely stringent norms for the presence of heavy metals and pesticides in all ready-to-drink beverages, including soft drinks, squashes, juices, packaged milk, beer and premixed alcoholic drinks. In fact, if it gets the green signal, all existing brands may face the danger of being thrown out of the market.

What the ministry has proposed is a quantum jump in existing standards by adopting the strict European Union (EU) norms. For instance, the overall pesticides levels at present are required to be below 0.0005 mg/l, individually they cannot exceed 0.0001 mg/l. But if the draft notification is passed, the standards for lead may become 50 times tighter. For copper, it could be 100 times more stringent. For arsenic too, the new level is 0.05 ppm for both soft drinks and carbonated water, ten times more stringent than the existing one. Further, the notification has specified new standards for other elements such as tin, cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel—which are not covered by existing laws—in all beverages (including toddy) and other food items like refined sugar, fish, jams and jellies. For example, fish products will now be scanned for mercury, jams and jellies for tin, and toddy for copper.

Not surprisingly, beverages and food firms, farmers, consumer groups and experts have decided to nip the draft in the bud. For, all of them believe that the new legislation, if introduced, will either force producers to import their raw materials (fruit pulp, vegetable extracts and milk) or switch completely to an organic farming mode. The reason: most of these ingredients contain high degrees of pesticides due to the farming practices in India.

Says a senior FICCI representative: "Any standard fixing should be done on a health-risk assessment and consumption patterns of the people. Here EU norms have been blindly used. Also, nowhere in the world is the standard fixed for finished products. They are done on individual components, otherwise companies lose the right to use formulations imaginatively." There is a buzz about the EU norms being a bogey that'll only act as a trade barrier against food exports by India and other developing countries. "What's the meaning of raising this bogey at a time when the WTO talks are on?" asks an industry person. Moreover, one can imagine the sheer number of lobbies that will get into the act if items like fish, toddy, beer and sugar have to stick to the new norms.

Consumer groups are against it because they think the government is taking a piecemeal approach rather than looking at the big picture. Asks consumer rights activist Manubhai Shah: "How many people drink such beverages in India? What about the millions who drink tea and coffee, or the abysmal municipal water? What about vegetables, milk and fish?" Shah says the Centre's approach needs to be holistic, where safety issues are addressed in a planned, time-bound manner and not as a political tool. Of course, many fear that the consumers would end up paying more if the companies have to invest in upgraded technology and/or import raw material.

Obviously, the farmers' lobbies will oppose the draft in the absence of a ready market. And experts contend that, in any case, we need excellent testing facilities to conform to these high standards. Also, it would require enormous investments to set them up. Says Dr Vishweshwaraiah Prakash, director, Central Food and Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore: "The only way ahead is a meaningful public-private partnership and self-regulation by industry."

Critics are also questioning the speed at which the government is going ahead with the new rules. On August 26, the health ministry published the notification, inviting objections by September 26, after which the Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS) will finalise the norms. Explains health secretary, J.V.R. Prasada Rao: "The minister (Sushma Swaraj) has made her intentions clear that all packaged water and soft drinks must conform to EU standards by January 1, 2004. But there will be a healthy debate on the desirable standards now and only then can any final decision be arrived at."

In hushed whispers, one hears hints that the Centre is playing a political game in an election year, that it has got itself into a win-win situation. On the one hand, it has upped the ante by setting an early deadline for responses. The consumers and BJP's political partners should be happy with it. And, if the ministry is forced to retract or delay the new norms, it can take the moral stance that 'we tried our best but things didn't work out'. Concludes an informed industrywallah: "This notification is completely absurd, it is obvious that the government is playing to a certain gallery, but which gallery I do not know."