New Delhi: Dabur India has been ordered by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to stop the sale of food products carrying “100%” purity claims.
Products with labels such as “100% Natural”, “100% Pure” and “100% Organic”, will also have to be taken off the shelves.
Such claims on Dabur’s website were “ambiguous, unverifiable and likely to mislead consumers”, the FSSAI has said in its order that has been posted on X as well.
It covers several products, including honey, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, cow ghee, coconut water and coconut milk.
Some products also displayed the “Jaivik Bharat” logo, a certification mark for organic food, without valid endorsement from the regulator, the FSSAI has said, as reported by News18.
The regulator has 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 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, the FSSAI said.
The Jaivik Bharat logo was found displayed on the labels of Dabur Himalayan Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and Dabur Organic Honey without valid FSSAI organic endorsement.
Dabur Hommade Coconut Milk was also marketed with the claim “100% Purity”.
Such a claim is not permissible for compound foods under the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018.
It had issued notice to Dabur earlier, directing discontinuation of misleading “100%” claims. However, no satisfactory corrective action was taken by the company, the FSSAI said.
“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.
The FSSAI has been using social media over the last few months 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.