FSSAI orders PIE Foods to halt monk fruit sweetener sales

FSSAI has ordered PIE Foods to immediately stop selling its Monk Fruit Extract Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener Drops after finding licensing, labelling and advertising violations. The company must obtain the required licence endorsements and regulatory approvals before resuming sales

New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Friday said it had issued a prohibition order directing PIE Foods to immediately stop the sale of its Monk Fruit Extract Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener Drops after finding multiple violations of licensing and food safety regulations.

According to the food regulator, an inspection found that the products were being marketed by PIE Foods without a valid relabeller endorsement in its FSSAI licence.

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Taking to the social media platform X, the regulator said the company was operating an e-commerce website without the required e-commerce business endorsement in its licence.

FSSAI said the product labels lacked mandatory declarations and carried claims such as “100 per cent Monk Fruit Extract” and “Natural Ingredients”.

In addition, the company’s e-commerce platform displayed the claim “Doctor Recommended”, which the regulator said appeared to violate the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, and the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018.

In view of the violations, the regulator directed the company, under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, to immediately discontinue the sale of the two monk fruit sweetener products until it obtains a valid FSSAI Central Licence with the required endorsements.

FSSAI also said the company must obtain the necessary regulatory approval for the use of monk fruit extract, which is treated as a non-specified food ingredient under the applicable provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, before resuming sales.

The prohibition order is part of the regulator’s enforcement action to ensure that food businesses comply with licensing, labelling, advertising and food safety requirements before marketing products to consumers.

Earlier, the food regulator suspended the food business licence of Switz Foods Private Limited after an inspection of its manufacturing facility uncovered serious violations of food safety and hygiene norms.