On Sunday, FMCG giant Dabur filed a complaint with Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) against Marico over purity claims made by the rival’s honey brand.
Dabur on Sunday said it is filing a complaint against Marico before the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for claiming its Saffola Honey sample being passed through the NMR test. Dabur’s honey sample has failed the sugar adulteration test in an investigation led by the Center of Science and Environment (CSE) last week about which Dabur raised a dispute.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) is a globally accepted test which CSE used to detect sugar syrups in honey.
“Dabur is filing a complaint in ASCI against Marico as their Saffola Honey sample from the market has failed the NMR test. Test reports clearly indicate the presence of sugar syrup in Saffola honey. Their claim on the NMR test is misleading the consumers,” a Dabur spokesperson said.
Dabur spokesperson added that as per a 03 December clarification issued by India’s food regulator the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the company’s honey brand has cleared FSSAI mandated tests, including specific test like the Specific Marker for Rice syrup test.
“Dabur has cleared all the above FSSAI-mandated tests, including SMR, besides voluntarily conducting NMR test periodically to ensure that our consumers get 100% Pure honey with no added sugar or syrups or any other adulterants,” the company spokesperson said.
However, Dabur’s claim was refuted by Marico contending that “Saffola Honey is also compliant with each of the quality parameters mandated by FSSAI.”
Earlier, Marico had filed a complaint before the ASCI on October 1, over Dabur’s claims of NMR of its honey and was upheld by the regulator. Marico filed an intra-industry complaint before ASCI, against ‘NMR TESTED PURE HONEY’ claim by Dabur for its product Dabur Honey. The claim ‘NMR tested’ was considered false and misleading by implication and omission and upheld under Chapter 1.4 of the ASCI Code, a Marico spokesperson stated.
The complaint has been admitted by ASCI and taken on record for further hearing, said Marico.
Without naming the brand, ASCI said it has received four complaints against honey brands over the past few months.
Three of these complaints were upheld as they contravened the ASCI code. The advertisers were unable to provide adequate substantiation for the claims they were making, and hence these advertisements were considered misleading, said Secretary-General Manisha Kapoor.
As per the ASCI process, the advertisers are required to modify their claims or withdraw the advertisements.
While, Dabur in its statement said that the recent clarification by the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has clearly reinforced that their 22 mandatory tests, including specific test like SMR, are the most stringent tests globally to detect all the potential adulterants and sugar in honey.
“Dabur has cleared all the above FSSAI-mandated tests, including SMR, besides voluntarily conducting NMR test periodically to ensure that our consumers get 100% pure honey with no added sugar/syrups or any other adulterants,” it said.
Recently several new players have entered into the growing domestic honey market after pandemic as people are now focusing on wellness products post-pandemic.
According to Expert Market Research, the Indian honey market reached a value of about ₹1,729 crore in 2019. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of about 10% between 2020 and 2025 to reach a value of nearly ₹30.6 billion by 2025, the report suggests.
