Graphic claiming Cadbury Dairy Milk product contains “beef” is fake!

All Cadbury Dairy Milk products are not prohibited for Hindus in India.It does not contain beef.

Cadbury Dairy Milk is a beloved product in India. However, what if someone were to claim that this favorite chocolate contains beef, as seen in a viral social media post? A graphic poster circulating on social media claims that all Cadbury Dairy Milk products are prohibited for Hindus because they are made from ‘beef’. While sharing this poster, the user said that Cadbury Dairy Milk itself has agreed that their product contains beef and all their products are Halal certified. The viral post claims that the website mentions that all Cadbury’s products contain gelatine that is halal certified and is derived from beef.

The caption of the viral post reads, “All the countrymen are requested to boycott, neither eat nor feed Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate. Because the Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate company has admitted that the chocolate is made from beef.”

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Fact Check- 

We started the investigation by searching the website seen in the viral image (https://www.cadbury.com.au/), as a result we found out that this is the website of Cadbury in Australia. According to the address given on the website, this company is located in Melbourne, Australia.

According to the Halal related information given on this website, the product available on the website is Halal certified and it contains beef. From this we can make it clear that the viral screenshot is of Cadbury Australia’s website.

What does Cadbury Dairy Milk Company have to say about this?

Further, Fact Crescendo contacted Rakhi Bansal, spokesperson, Mondelez India, Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd. She told us that “All products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian. The green dot on the wrapper symbolizes this. As you can well imagine, negative posts like this damage consumer trust in our respected and beloved brands. We request our consumers to please verify the facts related to our products before sharing them further.”

Further, we found a reply given to a user from the Twitter account of Cadbury Dairy Milk, in which he has written that “The viral screenshot is not of a Mondelez product made in India. All the products manufactured and sold in India are 100 percent vegetarian. The green dot on the wrapper is a symbol of this.”

Additionally, we came across a clarification given by Cadbury Dairy Milk on their Twitter account where all Cadbury India products are stated to be vegetarian.

What does the green dot represent?

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) uses different colored dots to indicate whether a product is vegetarian, non-vegetarian or contains eggs.

The FSSAI website states that this declaration on every package of vegetarian food will be carried by a symbol and ‘green’ color code to indicate that the product is vegetarian food. The symbol will consist of a green filled circle.

The website also mentions that products containing pork fat, lard and beef fat or its extracts will be declared by their specific names.

Below you can see a packet of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate available for sale on Amazon India. It has a green dot as mandated by FSSAI.

What is Halal product?

Halal is derived from the Arabic words halla, yahillu, hillan and wahalalan, meaning permitted or permitted by Islamic Sharia law. When food or goods are described as halal those foods or goods can be consumed or used by a Muslim. Such an expression means that the food or goods are:

1. According to Islamic Sharia law and fatwa nothing is impure/’Najis’

2. It does not include any part of the human being or its product which is not permitted by Islamic Sharia law and fatwa

3. Food products should not contain anything impure or najis which can be divided into 3 categories:

a) (Severe) such as dogs, pigs and their descendants or originating from any one of them;

b) (Moderate) which is with the exception of the above two, such as blood, pus, feces and etc.; And

c) (Mild) i.e. the urine of a child who is fully breastfed and has not reached the age of two years.

Conclusion–

After checking the facts, we have found the claim made through the viral graphic card to be false. All Cadbury Dairy Milk products are not prohibited for Hindus in India. Cadbury Dairy Milk, produced by Mondelez India Foods Private Limited in India, is of vegetarian origin. It does not contain beef.