FSSAI has ordered Dabur India to audit 27 product lines and back every health claim with peer-reviewed clinical trial data or pull the claims entirely.
FSSAI's improvement notice dated August 19, 2026 requires Dabur India Ltd to submit peer-reviewed human clinical trial data for every health and immunity claim across 27 product lines, or withdraw those claims, under the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued the notice after finding that Dabur, one of India's largest FMCG companies, was making unsubstantiated medicinal benefit claims on products including cold-pressed oils, apple cider vinegar, and honey. The audit covers categories that Dabur has been expanding into aggressively: homemade-style brands, glucose powders, and high-margin direct-to-consumer wellness and nutraceutical products. The crackdown is part of a broader FSSAI sweep that has already resulted in corrective action from five other companies, including Lotte India Corporation Pvt Ltd, Ferns N Petals Pvt Ltd, Eat Better Ventures Pvt Ltd, S S Product Prop, and Om Sai Healthcare, as reported by Mint.
A Dabur spokesperson told Mint: "The improvement notice issued by FSSAI was largely regarding certain content on e-commerce platforms. We have already submitted our response and action taken report to FSSAI and are complying to all FSSAI regulations."
What changed
This is not Dabur's first brush with FSSAI in 2026. The regulator had earlier banned the company from using claims such as "100% Pure", "100% Natural", "100% Purity Guaranteed", "100% Organic", and "100% Tender Coconut Water" on food products, calling them ambiguous, unverifiable, and likely to mislead consumers under the FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018. The Delhi High Court stayed that specific order, noting that the prohibition was passed without giving Dabur a hearing, and listed the case for further hearing. Dabur's senior counsel Sandeep Sethi argued that FSSAI had no power to prohibit product sales and that no emergency existed to justify the order.
The August 19 improvement notice is a separate action and covers a wider product footprint. FSSAI also flagged a specific mislabelling issue: Dabur was selling an ayurvedic proprietary medicinal oil listed as edible oil on e-commerce platforms. The company has since directed platforms to reclassify the product under the ayurvedic proprietary medicine category, which falls outside FSSAI's jurisdiction and under the Ayush Ministry instead.
The regulator's position is that health and immunity claims on food products must be backed by scientific dossiers and peer-reviewed human clinical trial data. This is not a new requirement. The FSS (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018 have always prohibited claims that cannot be substantiated, but enforcement has historically been inconsistent. The current wave of notices signals that FSSAI is now demanding documentation, not just label corrections.
FSSAI's scrutiny has also begun affecting how investors evaluate food startups. A separate Mint report notes that the regulator's actions have put food startup health claims under an investor microscope, with due diligence now including a review of whether product claims can survive regulatory challenge.
What buyers and cooks should do
For anyone buying Dabur products at a kirana store, a supermarket, or through an app like Blinkit or Zepto, the practical implication is this: claims printed on the pack right now may not have the clinical backing FSSAI is demanding. That does not mean the product is unsafe, but it does mean the immunity or wellness benefit being advertised may be marketing language rather than a finding from a controlled human trial.
A few things worth checking before you buy:
- Look for a specific regulatory citation on the label. A claim like "supports immunity" with no reference to a study or FSSAI-approved claim category is a flag.
- For products sold as both food and medicine (cold-pressed oils, herbal honeys, apple cider vinegar), check whether the product is licensed under FSSAI or the Ayush Ministry. The licensing category changes what claims are legally permissible.
- "100% Natural" and "100% Pure" remain contested on Dabur products while the Delhi High Court case is pending. FSSAI's position is that these phrases are unverifiable; the court has not yet ruled on the merits.
- If you use Dabur products in Ayurvedic cooking or home remedies, the product's reclassification from edible oil to ayurvedic proprietary medicine matters. A product in the ayurvedic medicine category is not regulated for food safety standards by FSSAI, which means the quality benchmarks and labelling rules are different.
FSSAI has not yet released a public schedule of which specific Dabur SKUs are under audit or which claims have been formally rejected. Until that list is published, consumers cannot know product by product which claims are being disputed. The regulator's social media posts have confirmed corrective action in broad strokes but have not named individual products.
For home cooks who rely on cold-pressed oils or raw honey for clean-label cooking, the underlying ingredients are not being pulled from shelves. What is being challenged is the language around them. A cold-pressed sesame oil is still a cold-pressed sesame oil. Whether it "boosts immunity" or "supports heart health" in the way the label implies is what FSSAI is asking Dabur to prove.