CIAA raids Dabur factory of Real juice after finding it selling date-expired juice in new packs with false manufactured date

The raid conducted on December 20, 2010 found out that there were thousands of cartoons of real juice with manufactured date of January 2011.

 

BHADRA SHARMA & LAXMI SHAH

The Kathmandu Post, DEC 20

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Monday raided multinational company Dabur Nepal’s factory at Rampur in Bara district. The CIAA raided the factory after receiving complaints that the company had been imprinting false manufacturing date in its products.

The CIAA team raided the factory after a case was filed with the CIAA on Friday by Forum for Protection of Consumers’ Right against Dabur Nepal for allegedly distributing products with false manufacturing date. “We raided Dabur’s factory following complaints filed by the Forum for Protection of Consumers’ Right,” said CIAA Spokesman Ishwori Paudyal. 

“We had received complaints which said that Dabur was tampering with the manufacturing date of its products,” added Paudyal. The CIAA alleges that Dabur’s fruit juice manufactured in November 2010 has been imprinted as manufactured in January 2011. When the Post tried to contact Dabur Nepal’s Chief Executive Udayan Ganguly for comments, his cellphone was switched off. An sms sent to him earlier remained unanswered. The CIAA team led by its Joint Attorney General Sameer Silwal comprises senior officials of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) and Inland Revenue Department (IRD). 

The team had reached the factory at 12 pm and left after four hours of investigation. CIAA officials said 74,000 cartons of Real Active juice worth Rs 80 million were sealed. “Our team found that what have been mentioned in the complaints turned out to be true,” said Paudyal. 

Silwal later told reporters that the team had found cartons of Real Active juice with manufacturing date of Jan. 11, 2011 at the factory. The CIAA has directed Dabur Nepal not to sell and distribute its fruit products until the entire investigation is over. However, a Dabur official, Nabin Shrestha, told the Post that the January date was printed in the pack since it was impossible to deliver the products immediately after its manufacturing. 

The CIAA team has also collected samples of fruit juice from the factory which will be forwarded to the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control for further investigations. 

A few months back, Dabur was accused of distributing substandard juice in the Nepali market. 

Alarmed by falling sales, the company went on the image makeover with a new media campaign where celebrities including actor Rajesh Hamal endorsed the Dabur product. 

One of the early Indo-Nepal joint-ventures, Dabur Nepal was established in 1992. The company has been manufacturing fruit juice and health care and personal care products. Dabur India increased its stake in Dabur Nepal from 80 percent to 97.5 percent in 2005 The company has been manufacturing fruit juices under the Real brand. The Bara factory is one of the major manufacturing units for Real juice, which is also exported to India. The current controversy is likely to hit its exports. 

This is the first time the government’s anti-graft body has raided a multinational company. When asked whether the CIAA holds the authority to raid and seal private companies, CIAA Spokesman Paudyal said, “We were forced to raid Dabur Nepal after receiving complaints that products manufactured by Dabur have false manufacturing date. Such acts could have severe impact on human health as these products are consumed by a huge mass.” 

(Originally posted at: http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/12/20/money/ciaa-raids-dabur-factory/216299/)