There's something fishy about Horlicks, the malt-based product we've grown up eating and drinking. On their UK website, check out this response in their FAQ section:
Q. Is Horlicks suitable for Vegetarian Diets?
A. Depending on what type of vegetarian diet is followed, Horlicks may be appropriate for vegetarian diets. The whey ingredients in Horlicks is vegetarian. However Horlicks contains a selection of added vitamins and minerals. Vitamins A and D are fat-soluble and need a carrier to help them blend into the Horlicks mixture during manufacture. The carrier used, be it in minute amounts, is fish gelatin. Therefore Horlicks is not suitable for anyone who excludes fish from their diet.
Now, there are no details available on Horlicks in India. The GlaxoSmithKline India site does not offer any information about their products' ingredients. The main ingredients of the UK and Indian Horlicks are all the same. The Indian Horlicks has the same vitamins, minerals and proteins. So how are the Vitamins A and D being blended during manufacture in India? What is the carrier being used?
India is the largest world-wide consumer of Horlicks - there are over 2 billion cups of Horlicks being drunk in India every year (source). The market size is over Rs 800 crores (~ $ 174 million USD) (source). Surely they haven't been hoodwinking all these consumers (many of whom would be vegetarian) by including a fish-based carrier in their production system?
What do you say, GSK India?
About Me
- Pramod Beligere
- I am from India, from the southern city of Bangalore, to be precise. My work is in technology services, in an IT management role. Apart from writing (which I haven't been doing much nowadays, as you can see), I am passionate about photography. You can see my latest portfolio here: http://photo.net/photos/beligere. My new website is beligere.com. Starting 2012, all blog entries would be at this new site.
1 comments:
my opinion :
a) if they (GSK) are not divulging their ingredients - some ministry has to come into fray & do some action for all the food products, where sensitive Vegetarian Indians faith is involved.
b) Fish gelatin is present or not should be made public atleast from GSK. independently group of people can approach CFTRI, Mysore for their report also
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