Sweet-sellers in the city are in a tizzy following a notification by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), asking these businessmen to display the manufacturing and expiry dates of non-packaged sweets from 1 June. A meeting convened by Paschim Banga Mistanna Byabsayee Samiti, the association of sweet sellers in Bengal, will discuss threadbare the ways and means of getting out of the dilemma of having to display the expiry date of the sweets which are neither packaged nor tinned.

“We have called a meeting of our members in Kolkata to discuss the issue and the problems that might occur following the implementation of the notification. The representatives of our committee are likely to meet the FSSAI authorities in Delhi on 3 or 4 March and convey the issues faced by the confectioners,” said Jagannath Ghosh, a spokesperson of Paschim Banga Mistanna Byabsayee Samiti.

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Prajesh Nandy, co-owner of century-old Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy, feels that before issuing such notifications, the authorities should also clarify ways to implement it. “We are in a fix after coming to know about the FSSAI notification. As our sweets fly off the shelves as soon as they are placed in trays, it will be very difficult for us tag them with expiry dates every few hours. Moreover, customers are always told to consume our specialities like parijat sandesh, lemon sandesh, dilkhush, rasa malai within a day. And our traditional customers already know it very well. But there are sweets like jal-bhora that can be preserved for a day or two. How can we mark those when we pack an assortment of sweets that have different expiry durations,” asked Mr. Nandy.

Echoing the views of Mr. Nandy, Bhaskar Sinha of Banchharam said, “After receiving the notification, we are worried over how to print expiry dates on the loosely sold sweets. There is a huge difference between labeling cans of packaged sweets and loose sweets. More than 100 trays of sweets are sold regularly from our shop and it is nearly impossible for us to fix expiry or best before dates on the trays that are changed at least four to five times a day. Even if expiry dates are printed on the loose sweets, there is no guarantee that the customers will abide by it, making the entire exercise of ensuring food safety redundant.” While agreeing that it will definitely deter some sweet sellers from selling stale sweets, Mr. Sinha said that this rule must not be implemented as hastily as it was done in case of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“We never sell any stale sweets and always ensure that the sweets are prepared in the most hygienic conditions,” he said. Tapan Kumar Das, the owner of Nalin Chandra Das and Sons which has been a prominent name for the sweet delicacies of Bengal for the last 175 years, thinks that implementing this rule will negatively impact the business.