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| - Fact Check: Patanjali isn't selling beef biryani mix, morphed photo of Pak brand viral with false claims
Many people on social media are sharing a photo of a packaged spice mix, which has the name of Yoga guru Ramdev as part of the branding.
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India Today Fact Check
This is a digitally altered photo. The original product belongs to National Foods Limited, a Pakistani brand. Patanjali and Ramdev’s names were added to the photo later.
Beef has long been a controversial food item in India. Its complicated legacy has been shaped by religious beliefs, increased vigilantism in recent years, non-uniform laws on cattle slaughter across states, and much more. Because of this, in a country where one can find packaged spice mixes for almost every Indian dish under the sun, it is a little more than uncommon to come across a branded spice mix pack for a beef dish here.
It is then all the more unlikely to see “beef biryani” spice mix being sold under the brand of Patanjali Ayurved, the packaged consumer goods company co-founded by self-styled yoga guru Ramdev — a man who last year demanded that cows be declared the national animal of India. On social media, many shared the photo of such a packaged spice mix. In fact, the photo being shared even included Ramdev’s name as part of the branding.
Those sharing the photo on Facebook and Twitter took a dig at Ramdev, juxtaposing his public appeals for cow protection with the kind of products his brand was selling. An archived version of such a post can be seen here.
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" , ... pic.twitter.com/vykJTchFcG — Priyanka (@Priyanka432m) September 19, 2022
AFWA's investigation found that the viral photo was digitally altered. Patanjali's logo as well as Ramdev's name were not part of the original packaging of a Pakistani brand.
AFWA PROBE
First, we noticed that the branding on the side of the box was different from that on the front. While it said Ramdev on the front, the logo on the side said “National”.
When we scanned the photo with Google Lens, it led us to the e-commerce website Amazon. There, we came across similar-looking packages of beef biryani spice mixes entitled, "National Foods Beef Biryani Recipe Mix." These products, however, featured neither Patanjali’s logo nor Ramdev’s name.
A subsequent search took us to the online store of National Foods. There too, we noticed the original packaging for the recipe contained no references to either Patanjali or Ramdev. A comparison between the two makes it clear that Patanjali’s and Ramdev’s names were digitally added to the original packaging later.
A PAKISTANI BRAND
When we checked the “About Us” section on the National Foods website, we found that it was a Pakistan-based brand. Per the website, National Foods was founded in 1970 as a spice company and over the years, it has grown into “a leading multicategory food company”. The website claims that the brand is “the most diverse Pakistani Kitchen & Food solution provider operating across 13 categories.”
We also looked for similar recipe mixes on the official website of Patanjali Ayurved. But we did not find any such product. In fact, their online store listed only powdered spices, not spice mixes or recipe mixes.
Thus, it is more than evident that Patanjali does not sell a “beef biryani” recipe mix. And the viral photo was that of a Pakistani recipe mix that was digitally altered.
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