JOIN USCentre directs Bournvita to take down misleading ads
The Centre on Wednesday pulled up Mondelez International weeks after a food blogger had pointed at the high sugar content in Bournvita. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, in a letter to the company, has asked the company to withdraw all misleading advertisements, packaging and labels on its products, and send a detailed explanation to the Commission within seven days about the violation.
The Commission said that Mondelez, in its packaging of Bournvita, failed to display mandatory disclosures under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Consumer protection Act.
The Commission said that the product has violated the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) system, which rates the overall nutritional profile for packaged food by assigning it a rating from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 stars (healthiest). The presence of ‘maltodextrin’ or ‘liquid glucose’ in Bournvita has not been labelled as an added sugar, and the product also does not have the mandatory red-coding for products with an added sugar content value of more than 10 per cent of the total energy.
Bournvita’s labels show that in a 100 gram serving, there are 49.8 grams of sugar, and an added sugar content of 37.4 grams, which alone constitutes 15 per cent.
The package of the drink fails to have any disclaimer or warning about the harmful consumption of such content by children, and also does not specify the number of servings needed to avail the benefits the drink claims to provide, the Commission said. The NCPCR has also written to the FSSAI and the Central Consumer Protection Authority to take necessary action on the violations. Violations or misleading ads could lead to a fine of Rs 10 lakh by the FSSAI.
Earlier in April, a food influencer Revant Himatsingka who goes by the name of ‘Foodpharmer’ made a video where he detailed how the presence of excessive sugar can cause diabetes, and that one of the ingredients in the drink could cause cancer. Himatsingka had to take down the post which had garnered over 12 million views after a notice from Mondelez.
After the takedown, a complaint was filed by nutrition think-tank Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest with the Department of Consumers Affairs against Bournvita, which is endorsed by several celebrities.