Labels on Patanjali’s two sharbat products, earmarked to be sold within India, were found to be having “additional medicinal and dietary market claims” as compared to the ones on bottles set aside for export to America, according to the US health regulator.
The United States and Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)said in its report that the “firm has separate production and packagingareas for exported and domestic products”.
The US food safety laws are more stricter than Indian laws.
If the company is found to be selling a misbranded productin the US, the USFDA can issue a warning letter to stop that product’s importaltogether, seize the whole batch of that product, get an injunction from afederal court against the company, and even start criminal prosecution that canlead to fines up to USD 500,000 and imprisonment of company officials for up tothree years.
The inspection of Unit III of Haridwar plant of PatanjaliAyurved Limited was conducted by a USFDA investigator named Maureen A Wentzelon May 7 and May 8 last year.
“I observed that the ‘Bel Sharbat’ and ‘Gulab Sharbat’products are sold under the PATANJALI brand name for domestic (India) andinternational (USA) markets, except the Indian labels have additional medicinaland dietary market claims,” Wentzel said in the establishment inspectionreport (EIR).
The report was later shared with the company too and the PTIhas accessed its copy. Patanjali Group’s spokesperson did not respond to thespecific queries sent by the news agency.
During inspection, in honey processing area of Patanjali’sHaridwar plant, Wentzel observed that pigeons were flying above productionequipment, according to the EIR.
“In the entry/manufacturing area of section…Of thehoney area, I observed pigeons flying above production equipment. Mr (Nitin)Jain stated that the pigeons would be removed. When production of the honeyresumed on May 8, 2018, the pigeons were not in the building,” she said.
Nitin Jain, Deputy General Manager – Exports, PatanjaliAyurved Limited, has been responsible for the firm’s export business to theUSA. During the inspection, Jain served as the interpreter for Wentzel.
She observed that in the plant, the honey was being pumped”from the finished product tank to the fillers” and the same fillerswere being “used for domestic and exported honey products”.
The plant also manufactures digestifs, which are post-dinnerdrinks that aid in digestion.
USFDA investigator wrote in its EIR that once she enteredthe building where digestif is manufactured, she was “informed that thefirm has separate production and packaging areas for exported and domesticproducts”.
She said while the firm’s laboratory personnel and batchrecords “appear to follow” written operating procedures, since theywere not in operation during the inspection, “I do not know if theirwritten processing processing procedures correlate with their manufacturingprocedures.”
The investigator said that the export warehouse of the planthad Amla Candy and Herbal Toothpaste apart from the aforementioned twosharbats.
During the inspection, the firm was not producing any goodsthat were scheduled to be exported to the USA, the EIR stated.
In India, if the company is found to be selling foodproducts with “misbranding” or “misleading claims”, then apenalty of up to Rs 3 lakhs can be imposed on it under the Food Safety andStandards (FSS) Act, 2006.
The FSS Act also permits the “adjudicating officer” to ask the accountable executive in the company to take corrective actions. If corrective actions are not taken, then such “article of food” shall be destroyed, as per the law. In 2017-18, Patanjali Ayurved Limited saw its revenue decline by 10 per cent to Rs 8,135 crore. In 2018-19, the company had posted a revenue of Rs 9,030 crore. PTI