CLAIM:
A post recently doing the rounds on social media says that Patanjali products have been banned in Qatar, with "excessive use of chemicals being detected in all products".
A post shared by one Vivek Pandey on Twitter, which has got as many as 3,800 retweets, goes on to say, "Baba Ramdev claims he is manufacturing 100% Natural products, Indian media not covering it, as Patanjali ads are a huge source of revenue for channels.."
A picture attached to the post shows a letter in Arabic with Patanjali's brand symbol on it, along with that of the Ministry of Public Health of Qatar.
TRUE or FALSE?
Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala took to Twitter to state that the news of the ban on Patanjali products in Qatar is "misleading", as he posted various documents to prove his assertion.
“This (the misleading news of the ban) is a disgusting and reproachable conspiracy. The Qatar government’s Public Health Ministry asked for Patanjali’s halal certificate and by presenting the certificate that was already issued, we were given a no-objection certificate.”SK Tijarawala, Patanjali spokesperson, on Twitter
The documents attached by Tijarawala show that a no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Qatar government was issued regarding the import of the Patanjali food products subject to the condition that "the Halal certificate must be attached for all the products certifying its compliance with the terms of Halal".
Tijarawala also posted the Halal registration certificate by the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind Halal Trust dated 16 November 2017, whereby Patanjali Ayurved Limited was "found to comply with Halal requirement". Notably, the validity of the certificate, as mentioned, is till 15 November 2018.
However, according to a notification by Qatar's Ministry of Health, available on its website, all Patanjali foodstuff for commercial purpose had been banned earlier owing to "non-compliance with Halal Requirements". The notification regarding the Patanjali ban carries the date of 30 May 2018.
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