Yoga guru Ramdev’s food and Ayurvedic products company Patanjali is once again in the news for a wrong reason, as it has allegedly distributed expired products to people affected by floods in Assam.
According to local TV channels, people have accused Patanjali of distributing old milk powder and juice packets. Some products expired in October last year.
A local news channel in Assam, Time 8, has claimed that many Patanjali goods worth Rs 12 lakh had expiry dates on them.
“Patanjali has distributed expired/about to be expired food items to flood affected people of Majuli in Assam,” the channel claimed, adding that many people have complained about food poisoning after the food products.
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Interestingly, the volunteers who distributed the products claimed that they didn’t notice the expiry dates and the matter came to light when some people complained about it.
“When we asked the company’s representative in Majuli, they admitted there were some old products with them, but said those were not been distributed among people affected by the floods,” Majuli deputy commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha told Hindustan Times. The administration has launched an inquiry.
The company, however, denied distributing bad products, but said it cannot “always control the logistics of transport and distribution and are not responsible if someone other than our representatives indulges in some wrong doing,” HT reported.
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"We distributed the products as a humanitarian cause. No expired products were dispatched. I don't know about the distributors. They may have piled up old stocks and distributed that. Why would we do anything like this," S K Tijarawla, the company spokesperson, told the newspaper.
Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered Patanjali to stop airing TV ads for its soaps. The Court decision came after consumer goods major Reckitt Benckiser approached the court saying that Patanjali had allegedly disparaged its soap brand - Dettol.
In June, the Nepal's Drug Administration asked Patanjali to recall six 'sub standard products' with immediate effect. The notice, that surfaced on June 21 (International Yoga Day), listed Patanjali's popular ayurvedic products that failed in microbial tests when sent to the laboratories there. These products were largely manufactured at Uttarakhand's Divya Pharmacy.
