New Delhi, Aug. 10 -- The Bombay High Court on Monday sought the Centre's response to a plea by alcoholic-beverage makers challenging the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) prohibition on the sale of certain rum and whisky variants, after the regulator objected to the use of added flavouring in products labelled as standardized spirits.

Senior counsel Navroz H. Seervai, representing Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries Pvt. Ltd, maker of Old Monk Rum, told the court that the product has been sold for more than five decades and that the prohibition was causing the company losses of almost Rs.1 crore a day.

"I am losing one crore a day. for fifty years it (rum) has been sold under all relevant provisions," said Seervai. ...