NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Centre’s stand on a petition claiming that Ramdev co-founded Ayurvedic conglomerate Patanjali’s toothpaste ‘Divya Dant Manjan’ contains “non-vegetarian ingredients” like fish extract, and was “misbranded” as vegetarian.
Represented by advocates Swapnil Chaudhary and Prashant Gupta, the petitioner stated that the product contains ‘samudraphen (sepia officinalis)’, which is derived from fish extract.
The petitioner claimed that this discovery was “distressing” for him and his family which consumes only vegetarian products on account of religious beliefs and sentiments. It was stated that there was a need to address the lapse on the part of the authorities in taking appropriate action.
Justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice to the Centre, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India as well as Patanjali, Divya Pharmacy, Ramdev and other related parties on the petition by lawyer Yatin Sharma.