Kathmandu. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has told the Delhi High Court that Dabur India, india’s multinational consumer goods manufacturer, has misled consumers by promoting juice by claiming that it is made from 100 percent fruit.
A writ petition filed by FSSAI Assistant Director Smita Singh on April 22 challenged Dabur’s “100 per cent” claim. It says that the juice is a mixture of water and fruit. Apart from this, the word 100 percent has not been recognized for food production.
“It is respectfully submitted that any food business operator who wishes to label, advertise or distribute fruit juice products by consuming the expression ‘100 per cent’ is deemed to be in clear violation of any statutory provisions and regulatory framework under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the rules and regulations framed thereunder,” the petition said. “
It states that “the word 100 percent refers to numerical verification rather than qualitative description.” In a circular issued in June 2024, the food regulator directed food producers to remove claims such as “100 per cent fruit juice” from fruit juice labels and advertisements. At that time, Dabur had argued that the FSSAI directive was legally unreasonable and came from a misinterpretation of the existing rules.
In the writ, FSSAI made the labeling and claims, to accommodate the views of the scientific group on advertising (SP-08), during its 47th and 49th meetings on its three products – mixed fruit juice, apple sir, and grape juice under Real’s fruit beverages. “The 100 per cent stake is misleading because the ingredients list clearly mentions the amount of water and confirms that mixed fruit rock contains 6.8 per cent of natural-flavoring substances,” the meeting suggested. “
In the writ petition, it said that “the word 100 per cent is not defined in the FSS Act, 2006, Rules and Regulations.” The dispute is currently pending before the Delhi High Court and is scheduled to come up for hearing on July 7.
