By Sk Badiruddin
An old screenshot of the Australian site of Cadbury, which states that their products contain gelatin derived from beef is circulating with misleading claims among Indian social media users.
The viral screenshot appears to show a section from the international Cadbury website, which clarifies that the gelatin used in any of the confectionary products of the company is halal certified and made from beef extracts.
A text from the screenshot reads, "Please note, if any of our products contain gelatine in the ingredients, the gelatine we use is halal certified and derived from beef. The listed products represent the equivalent "mini" variants found in CADBURY FAVOURITES variety packs." (sic.) The screenshot also contains several images of Cadbury Dairy Milk products.
The screenshot is circulating with the caption, "Why 2 #BoycottCadbury? Because it contains Beef and is Halal Certified. It means Cadbury is making Hindus to eat beef in the name of Sweets. They are funding Jihadi Terrorists through Halal Certification. Hindus must stop consuming anti Hindu Cadbury products."
Boycott Cadbury has recently been trending on Twitter after claims of beef being used in their products started surfacing. Netizens have also targeted the company for a Diwali advertisement which uses the name Damodar for a poor lamp seller; far right Twitter users have alleged the advertisement has deliberately used the name Damodar, which also happens to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's father's name, in a bad light.
The Tweet is archived here.
Facebook users also called for a boycott with the same screenshot. View a Facebook post here.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search on a verified account of one of the product handles (@dairymilkin) in India. We found a reply from the account to right-wing commentator Madhu Purnima Kishwar on July 18, 2021, when she posted the same screenshot and called for a boycott of Cadbury products.
Daily Milk India replied on Twitter, "Hi Madhu, the screenshot shared in the Tweet is not related to Mondelez products manufactured in India. All the products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian. The green dot on the wrapper signifies that."
According to notice (Page 35) published in 2011 by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , the symbol for vegetarian products shall consist of a green colour filled circle, having a diameter not less than the minimum size specified while brown circle for non-vegetarian products.
Old Screenshot From Australian Site
BOOM checked the Australian e-commerce store of Cadbury and found that a similar text has been written for 'Halal' stating "if any of our Australian products contain gelatine in the ingredients, the gelatine we use is halal certified and derived from beef". We also checked for an archived version of the Australian site and found that the word Australian was missing in the description earlier. See a comparison below.
Additionally, we did not find any halal declaration on the Indian site of Cadbury Gifting which sells Cadbury products in India.
BOOM reached out to Mondelez International India's spokesperson who directed us to their statement on Twitter. Mondelez International owns Cadbury and its products.
"The screenshot shared in the tweet is not related to Mondelez/Cadbury products manufactured in India. All the products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian. The green dot on the wrapper signifies that. As you can well imagine, negative posts like these, damages consumer confidence in our well-respected and loved brands. We request our consumers to please verify facts related to our products before sharing them further."
The same statement also reported here in 2021.
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