Best-before date must for loose sweets from today: Mohali admn

All confectioners will have to mandatorily declare the expiry or best-before dates of the sweets being sold in their shops across the district from Thursday onwards.

While announcing the order, Mohali district health officer Dr Subhash Sharma said to ensure availability of quality and hygienic sweets for the people, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued these directions. In case of non-packaged/loose sweets, the container/tray holding the same should display the best-before date of the product mandatorily with effect from October 1, 2020, Sharma said, adding that the seller in this case may also mark the date of manufacturing, but that shall be voluntary and non-binding.

The health officer said the confectioners shall decide and display the best-before date of sweets depending upon the nature of the product and the local conditions. An indicative list of shelf life of various types of sweets is given in the guidance note on safety of traditional milk products which is available on the FSSAI website.

Sharma said the purpose of displaying the said information is to protect the health of consumers as they would be able to know whether the sweets they are buying are expired or up to what date they are edible. He asked the people to prefer pure food items and ask shopkeepers to pay special attention to cleanliness.

The new norms are not meant to harass shopkeepers, but to ensure that clean and quality food items are made available to the people, he said while seeking their cooperation in implementing the new guidelines for a healthy society.