Diageo India, which is already dealing with regulatory hurdles over accusations of the company adding misleading labels to its products and adding artificial flavours to some rum and whisky brands, has now landed in more trouble, with regulators now having seized around 18,000 boxes of the company’s liquor bottles over the alleged lack of markings to show that these were manufactured using safe recycled plastic.
The latest action against the world’s largest spirits group was first reported by Reuters. Diageo India later confirmed the development, saying that some of its bottles “have been quarantined by authorities until further direction”.
The company revealed that the recycler is approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and suppliers had conducted mandatory tests regarding the same.
“Our products are completely safe for consumption … We are engaging with FSSAI for further direction on this matter,” Diageo India unit United Spirits told Reuters in a statement.
Reuters quoted a government memo to reveal that the company’s Bengaluru unit was visited last week by FSSAI officials, who were then told that the unit used recycled plastic bottles. However, the inspectors found that the bottles did not feature the required markings.
“This raised serious food safety, misleading and misbranding compliance concerns regarding the safety of finished alcoholic beverages for consumers,” the memo said, adding that the seizure was made in the interest of public health.
The memo showed that bottles of brands like DSP Black Deluxe Whisky, Smirnoff Zesty Lime Triple Distilled Flavoured Vodka and VAT 69 blended scotch whisky were seized.
Artificial flavouring, scotch-maturation claim issues
The latest setback comes in the wake of the FSSAI banning the sale of two of the company’s popular whisky brands, wherein the regulator alleged that the company was using misleading claims regarding the liquor’s maturity on the bottles’ labels as well as using artificial flavouring.
The FSSAI said that Diageo India misleadingly claimed that one of its top-selling whisky brands was “matured in American oak casks”, while most of the product was not matured. It said in its 20 July notice to the company, “your product has a grain neutral spirit as second ingredient after demineralized water, and major portion is non-matured spirit.”
“The complete alcohol is not matured in wood cask as claimed on the label, and therefore misleading the consumer,” it also said, adding, “Any claim regarding age of the spirit used in the product must refer to the youngest spirit used in the mix, not the oldest.”
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