Dabur India Ltd has told the Bombay High Court that it will withdraw terms like “anti-inflammatory,” “anti-bacterial,” and “analgesic” from the labels of its two toothpaste products, Dabur Meswak Toothpaste and Dabur Herb1 Anti-Bacterial Toothpaste Tulsi, with effect from June 2025. (Dabur India Ltd.v State of Maharashtra.)
The decision was taken following concerns raised by the Maharashtra government’s Food and Drug Administration regarding the legality of these claims.
A Bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Advait M Sethna accepted Dabur’s undertaking on March 26 and disposed of Dabur’s plea in this regard.
“The statement made on behalf of the petitioner that the petitioner product ‘Dabur Meswak Toothpaste’ and “Dabur Herb’1 Anti-Bacterial Toothpaste Tulsi” will not bear the words ‘anti- inflammatory’ and ‘anti-bacterial’ and ‘analgesic’ respectively with effect from June 2025 stand accepted as an undertaking to the court,” the Bench said.
The case stemmed from an order passed on January 29 by the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration directing Dabur to amend the labels of their toothpastes to ensure compliance with statutory provisions.
The order said that the claims made on the labels were legally incorrect, although it acknowledged that the products were not hazardous to health.
Dabur was instructed to revise the labels before the restricted stock could be released.
Dabur then approached the High Court.
During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam, appearing for Dabur, stated that the company would voluntarily discontinue using the disputed terms and had already initiated the process to revise the labels and packaging.
Dabur confirmed that the new labels would be in circulation by June 2025, following a detailed process involving design, printing and distribution.
The Court accepted Dabur’s undertaking and held that the disputed products could be sold until May 31 but could not be marketed with the contested labels after June 1.
