In response to political unrest in Tamil Nadu, the food safety regulator FSSAI changed its directive on Thursday and permitted the use of regional names on printed labels of curd packets.
The term “curd” and any other widely used regional common name may now be used on labels by Food Business Operators (FBOs).
For instance, “Curd (Dahi)” or “Curd (Mosaru), “Curd (Zaamutdaud),” “Curd (Thayir),” and “Curd (Perugu)” can be used, according to a statement from the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Following several recent complaints regarding the removal of the term “curd” from the Standards of Fermented Milk Products and only the word “Dahi,” the order has been changed.
The dispute started when the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, which sells dairy products under the brand name Aavin, refused to follow the FSSAI’s directive to use the Hindi term “Dahi” in its printed sachets and insisted alternatively on using the Tamil word “Thayir.”
M K Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, condemned the action on Wednesday, calling it an effort to “impose Hindi.” Minister for Dairy Development SM Nasar stated that the government had received a letter requesting that the order be put into effect by the end of August.
“the unabashed insistences of #HindiImposition have come to the extent of directing us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, relegating Tamil & Kannada in our own states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever,” Stalin said in a tweet.
The chief of the BJP state unit, K Annamalai, claimed that the notification did not align with the Center’s regional language promotion strategy.
Also Read: Was Under Pressure To Frame Modi: Shah
