FSSAI prohibits Dabur from selling food products with '100 pc' claims

The regulator asserted that the use of the 100 per cent claims is in contravention of the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018.

Food regulator FSSAI has prohibited Dabur India from selling many products such as honey, cow ghee, and edible oils using '100 per cent' claims, saying that such labelling is against the law.

In a social media post on Monday, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) informed that it has issued a prohibition order to Dabur India Ltd over the sales of food products carrying misleading '100 per cent' claims, including honey, apple cider vinegar, virgin coconut oil, sesame oil, cow ghee, coconut water, coconut milk and other such items.

Giving details about the violations, the FSSAI said that "food products being sold on the company's website were found carrying misleading '100%' claims such as '100% Natural', '100% Pure', '100% Purity Guaranteed', '100% Organic' and '100% Tender Coconut Water'."

The regulator asserted that the use of the 100 per cent claims is in contravention of the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018, as they are ambiguous, unverifiable and likely to mislead consumers.

Dabur Himalayan Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and Dabur Organic Honey were found displaying the Jaivik Bharat Logo without valid FSSAI organic endorsement.

Moreover, the product Dabur Hommade Coconut Milk was marketed with the claim "100% Purity".

Such a claim is not permissible for compound foods under the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018.

The FSSAI said that it had issued notice to Dabur earlier, directing discontinuation of misleading "100%" claims. However, no satisfactory corrective action was taken by Dabur.

"FSSAI directed Dabur India Limited to immediately prohibit the sale of the food products identified in the notice and all other food products carrying misleading "100%" claims, and to submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) within 15 days," the regulator said.

In the last few months, the FSSAI has been using social media to inform the public at large about its enforcement actions against various food business operators, as well as e-commerce companies selling these products on their online marketplaces.

Many alcoholic beverage makers and energy drink manufacturers have come under its radar.