Dabur, Marico locked in bitter war, move ASCI over claims regarding purity of honey

Homegrown honey brands have been in a tizzy ever since Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) released its report, wherein it stated that honey samples from as many as 13 leading brands have been found adulterated with sugar syrup. Named among these 13 brands are Dabur, Patanjali, Zandu, Apis Himalaya and Baidyanath, among others.

Dabur has refuted the findings of CSE in the case of its honey brand.

Now, Dabur and Marico, which markets its honey under the Saffola brand, are locked in a bitter war, where they are challenging the purity claims of each other’s honey brands and have approached the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

Marico had filed an intra-industry complaint dated October 1, 2020, 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.

It may be noted here that NMR or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance test is considered to the gold standard for determining the purity of honey.

Marico again filed a complaint before ASCI on December 3, 2020, wherein it challenged the claim made by Dabur India that “Dabur Honey has passed the German NMR test”. The complaint has been admitted by ASCI and taken on record for further hearing.

On December 6, 2020, Dabur said that it would be filing a complaint against Marico’s Saffola Honey before ASCI for claiming that the brand had passed the NMR test of purity. Dabur maintained that Saffola Honey had, in fact, failed the NMR test and hence, its claim was false and misleading the consumers.

Meanwhile, the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has 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.

A Dabur spokesperson claimed, “Dabur has cleared all the 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. That is why Dabur Honey is the world’s largest selling honey brand, clearing all European and US regulations and is being exported to more than 15 countries around the globe.”

On the other hand, a Marico spokesperson maintained, “Saffola guarantees 100% purity of its honey irrespective of the packaging location. Every batch of Saffola Honey passes 60+ tests, including the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) technology, which is one of the most advanced tests in the world, in the best in class international laboratories to ensure that it is 100% pure, free from added sugars and free from any form of adulteration. Saffola Honey is produced at an USFDA registered plant with state-of-the-art technology ensuring robust quality checks and controls. Saffola Honey is also compliant with each of the quality parameters mandated by FSSAI.”

The spokesperson further said that if any user of Saffola Honey wanted to check the certificate of purity for the bottle purchased by them, they can take a picture of their bottle with batch details and email it to CSC@marico.com.

With both Dabur and Marico filing complaints against each other, now the ball is in ASCI’s court. Regardless of what ASCI’s decision will be and how this spat will be resolved, a huge doubt is now entrenched in consumers’ minds regarding whether the honey that they have been so diligently consuming, especially for its immunity boosting and health properties, is actually causing them more harm. Honey brands will now have to counter the consumer trust factor, which might have been significantly dented following the CSE report, such spats between brands is not helping the cause at all.