Cadbury India’s popular “health drink” for children, Bournvita” now comes with lesser added sugar per 100 grams. As per reports, the company has reduced the drink’s sugar content from 37.4 grams to 32.2 grams per 100 grams. In other words, there has been a drop of 14.4 per cent in the added sugar content. Bournvita has been surrounded by controversy over the added sugar content and misleading ads since food vlogger and social media activist Revant Himatsingka (foodpharmer) highlighted high sugar content in the product. Himatsingka called it “India’s victory” against the brand.
Revant Himatsingka’s video on Bournavita
In April this year, Himatsingka highlighted high sugar content in a video on his Instagram profile. In the video, he claimed that the company added an “immune system” on their packaging after the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the product remained the same. Then, he talked about the content of the drink, which included cocoa solids, colour, liquid glucose, maltodextrin, and more. He then mocked the brand and urged them to change the tagline from “Taiyaari Jeet Ki” to “Tayaari Bimari Ki”. He urged the parents not to give their children such products and appealed to the government to take strict action against false claims.
Bournvita reacted to the controversy
As the video gained traction everywhere, Bournvita swung into action and claimed that Bournvita contains vitamins and minerals that help build immunity. They added, “Every serving of Bournvita has 7.5 grams of added sugar, approximately one and a half teaspoons. This is much less than children’s daily recommended sugar intake limits.”
They also sent a legal notice to Himatsingka warning him of court case if he did not delete the video. In a post on Instagram, Himatsingka informed his followers that he deleted the video due to the notice. He said, “I have decided to take down the video across all platforms after receiving a legal notice from one of India’s biggest law firms on 13 April 2023. I apologise to Cadbury for making the video. I did not plan or intend to infringe any trademark or defame any company, nor do I have the interest or resources to participate in any court cases, and I request the MNC to not take this forward legally.”
NCPCR notice to Bournvita
The matter did not stop here. On 27th April 2023, it was reported that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issued a notice to Mondelez International, India – the company that makes Bournvita asking them to remove all misleading ads. In the statement, NCPCR said that the commission took cognisance of the matter under Section 13(1)(j) of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act after they received a complaint against Bournvita.
The notice read, “The Commission in this regard observes that the product manufactured by your company is misleading the customers through its packaging and advertisements. The Commission observes that your product’s labelling, packaging, display, and advertisement claims are misleading to the general public. Further, your product’s labelling and packaging also fail to acknowledge the correct information regarding the content used in the product – Bournvita.”
The commission observed that Bournvita had bypassed the threshold of added sugar by using different labels, such as Liquid Glucose and Maltodextrin. Ideally, they should have been labelled under “added sugar” as per FSSAI’s Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020.