Fish Extract In Patanjali’s ‘Veg’ Product? High Court Issues Notice To Ramdev, Centre

New Delhi: Controversy seems to be following Baba Ramdev these days.

In fresh legal trouble for the yoga guru, an advocate by the name of Yatin Sharma has filed a petition in Delhi High Court against his company Patanjali Ayurved, alleging that the brand’s herbal tooth powder ‘Divya Manjan’, which is marketed as vegetarian, contains non-vegetarian ingredients.

Taking up the plea, the high court issued notices to Patanjali Ayurveda, Baba Ramdev, Central government and Patanjali’s Divya Pharmacy, which manufactures the product, and set November 28 as the next hearing date.

Sharma has said that he used ‘Divya Manjan’ for a long time due as it was claimed to be a vegetarian and plant-based ayurvedic product. Recent research, however, revealed that the product contains samudraphen (Sepia officinalis), derived from fish extract.

Sharma’s plea states that the packaging of Divya Manjan features a green dot, a symbol indicating vegetarian products, yet the list of ingredients shows that the tooth powder contains Sepia officinalis.

Arguing that this amounted to misbranding and violation of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the petitioner stated that it is distressing for him and his family, as their religious beliefs prohibit consumption of non-vegetarian ingredients.

The petitioner also alleged that Ramdev admitted in a YouTube video that samudraphen is an animal-based product used in ‘Divya Manjan’.

Sharma pointed out that no action has been taken so far on his complaints filed with Delhi Police, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, and Ministry of Ayush.

Seeking judicial intervention to address the ‘mislabelling’ of the product and hold the respondents accountable, Sharma has also asked for compensation due to the distress caused by the inadvertent consumption of a non-vegetarian product.

The Supreme Court earlier took Patanjali, its co-founders Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna to task over deceptive advertising practices.