PANAJI
But this will be a thing of past soon as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which is a central government body, is working on standards to regulate feni’s manufacturing and labelling. This was confirmed by Salim Veljee, director, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA)-Goa.
Veljee said, “The scientific committee of FSSAI has already come out with standards for feni, which exist as a draft in public domain. Once, the feni manufacturers from Goa give suggestions, this draft will be notified and implemented.”
These standards are about all stages of feni manufacturing and even labelling. Sources revealed that standards concern about alcohol content in feni, amount of various other ingredients and even maturity.
Once the standards are finalized and implemented, the excise department will have power to seize feni stock if it is not as per the standards devised by FSSAI. This will protect consumers and also genuine feni manufacturers, who are on the receiving end of unhealthy trade practices by unscrupulous elements.
As of now, due to no standards, the situation is so bad that consumers don’t even know what they are buying is actually feni or not. Since standards are not in place, excise department can’t take any action as feni is not legally defined.
Due to this, no action can be taken against unscrupulous elements unless a consumer falls sick after having feni manufactured by them.
During the previous monsoon session, the state government had changed the category of feni from “country liquor” earlier to “heritage spirit” now. Thanks to this move, manufacturers will be able to sell feni in other states of India, which they couldn’t do earlier, as it was categorised as country liquor.
Now that feni will also get standardised, it will help genuine manufacturers in marketing feni all across India. Meanwhile, it is also reported that standards will be for both cashew and coconut feni.
Even as the move to standardise comes as a welcome gesture, feni is still fighting a losing battle against other alcohol available in the market.
The interest in Feni is on the decline, both from tourists and locals, with drinks such as Tequila being favoured over the local brew.
Retailers are having tough time in selling feni too. A random retailer in Panaji sold on an average one bottle of feni for every seven bottles of whiskey. As of now, feni is fighting a losing battle with other kinds of alcohol.
The problem is definitely serious with the feni industry. As per state government’s records, the production of cashew juice actually fell from 4.92 lakh bulk litres in 2012-13 to 4.27 lakh bulk litres in 2013-14 to just 4.01 lakh bulk litres in 2014-15. The state government’s excise revenue from cashew feni is also falling. The government made Rs 37.06 lakhs from excise on cashew feni in 2012-13, which slipped to Rs 34.6 lakhs in 2013-14 only to fall further to Rs 31.9 lakhs in 2014-15.
