LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Saturday ordered all infant formula/powdered milk manufacturing companies to clearly print on packaging of their products “it is not natural milk” and also restrained them from using the word “milk” for their products.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar passed this order disposing of petitions against the companies for misleading citizens by describing their products as milk.

Earlier, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan concluded his arguments on behalf of the association of formula milk manufacturers and requested the court to let them mention on the products that “it is not a substitute to mother’s milk”. He also presented packs and containers of some imported formula milk and tried to convince the court that the companies here had been following international standards.

The CJ turned down the request and observed the court was not bound to follow the standards of other countries as it had to decide the matter keeping in view the level of acumen and understanding of local people.

He pointed out that there was a common impression among people that these products were milk and the court wanted to remove this misconception. He said the court could not allow these companies to mislead the people by their deceptive advertisements.

Chief Justice Nisar gave six months to importers of formula milk for compliance of the order and four months to local manufacturers.

He also directed the Punjab Food Authority to conduct an examination of Millac powdered milk and submit a report within 15 days about its ingredients.

Dalda Foods and others had filed petitions challenging the deceptive advertisements by formula milk manufacturing companies, including Nestle.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2018