No plain milk: Amul to take legal action against Cadbury

Is plain milk not enough? The question has become a bone of contention between dairy major Amul and confectionery giant Cadbury, owned by Kraft Foods, Rachit Vats writes.

Is plain milk not enough? The question has become a bone of contention between dairy major Amul and confectionery giant Cadbury, owned by Kraft Foods. Amul will be taking the legal route against Cadbury for promoting its flagship health drink Bournvita in a misguided way. Amul claims Cadbury's campaign saying milk alone is not nutritious puts the entire dairy industry in a poor light and misguides consumers.

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"Milk is the best source of vitamins and has enough nutrition," said RS Sodhi, managing director, GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd). "Cadbury has tried to degrade milk's virtues and is misguiding consumers to promote its own supplement."

"For centuries people have consumed milk and derived its nutrition without any external supplement and to say that the quality of milk is degrading is misguiding consumers. Not just Amul but the entire dairy industry is against this kind of promotion. We'll take suitable legal action against the company," said Sodhi.

A while ago Cadbury started a promotional campaign for Bournvita citing that milk alone is not nutritious. To derive calcium from milk, one needs to use a supplement such as Bournvita. The campaign suggests that in recent years the quality of milk has gone down and advises consumers to mix supplements such as Bournvita to raise levels of Vitamin D, which further helps absorb calcium from milk!

"We have not received any legal notice and therefore we cannot respond to specific claims," said a Cadbury spokesperson. "Vitamin D deficiency is a growing concern among a large proportion of children today because of changing lifestyles and inadequate exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D aids calcium absorption from milk. Bournvita contains Vitamin D which enhances the calcium absorption of milk and thus multiplies its benefits."