Despite humungous efforts made by cashew feni manufacturers in Goa, the official standards for feni are still not in place, leaving this industry at the mercy of unscrupulous elements.
PANAJI
Due to lack of standards, neither the manufacturing process and nor the packaging and labelling practices are standardised, which means that there is no way that a consumer can check whether a certain brand of feni is genuine or not.
Few months ago, Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association had come out with elaborate standards for various stages of cashew production starting with how cashew apples are collected and stored to the stage when fermented cashew juice is boiled and distilled.
Gurudatta Bhakta, president, Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association, said, “The association had given the standards to the excise department and a copy of that was also marked to the food and drug administration (FDA).”
Based on his comments, it is clear that the private manufacturers have given cashew feni standards to the two government departments involved, but it seems that no progress has been made on this front, since then.
The previous government, under the then chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, had even introduced a bill in the assembly to declare feni as Goa’s “heritage spirit” so that it is no longer a “country liquor”. This was done to show that feni is indeed integral part of Goa.
But, somewhere, it seems the focus was lost, as feni industry is still as unregulated as it was a few years ago, which not only is bad for consumers but it also makes things very tough for few genuine manufacturers left in this industry.
Feni industry needs standards, which should be made mandatory for everyone to follow in this trade.
For standards to officially come into place, it is a must that standards are approved by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Until that happens, this industry is entirely left to the whims and the fancies of unscrupulous elements. There are a plenty of cashew manufacturers, which follow wrong practices in making feni.
For instance, some of them use iron machines to take juice out of cashew apples, which is really bad because juice has corrosive properties. Due to this reason, Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association had suggested that stainless steel machine should be used.
The industry is so unregulated at the moment that even the alcohol content varies from brand to brand. To bring it back on the track, it is a must that the current state government takes up this issue seriously or else there is a very clear possibility that feni will permanently lose the battle to other alcoholic drinks like whiskey, vodka and rum.
