Law & Justice

Bombay High Court Told Old Monk Must Be Labeled 'Flavoured Rum', Not Plain 'Rum'

By Narsi Benwal

The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed the Bombay High Court that the makers of Old Monk cannot market their product simply as 'Rum' because it contains additional flavouring agents. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad was told that the beverage does not qualify as rum in its natural form and therefore cannot be sold under that label alone. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing FSSAI, told the court that the product contains artificial and nature-identical rum flavouring substances, which mask its natural characteristics and alter its true identity, making it substandard under existing regulatory standards. He said labelling such a product as plain rum is misleading, since genuine rum flavour should stem from natural ingredients, fermentation, and maturation processes rather than added flavouring agents. According to the FSSAI affidavit, products with such flavouring must carry the terms 'Flavoured' or 'Premix Rum' on their labels to prevent misleading or deceptive claims. The regulator also objected to claims on the product's label describing it as '7 years old blended' or 'very old vatted.' FSSAI argued that any age claim must refer to the youngest spirit used in the blend, not the oldest, and that describing the product as '7 years old blended' violated Regulation 1.3.7 of the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulation, 2018, by misleading consumers. During the hearing, senior counsel Navroz Seervai, representing Mohan Rocky Springwater Pvt Ltd, the manufacturer of Old Monk, told the bench that his client had agreed to revise the product's labelling to include terms such as 'Added Flavour' or 'Flavoured Rum' in order to lift the sales prohibition. The company also agreed to drop the '7 years old blended' claim from its packaging. Following this, the judges asked Additional Government Pleader Priyabhushan Kakade, representing the State Excise Department, how long approval of the revised label would take. Kakade stated that a new label typically takes about a month for approval, while a modified label would require between 15 and 45 days. After considering these submissions, the bench declined to issue any interim orders at this stage and adjourned the matter to September 11.