‘Wholewheat’ biscuit had 52% maida, fined Rs 1 lakh

By Sohail Khan 5 September 2026, 12:29 pm

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Business News›News›Trending›Wholewheat biscuit made with 52% maida and only 19.5% wheat, company said the name was just a trademark; CCPA orders Rs 1 lakh fine for misleading consumers

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Wholewheat biscuit made with 52% maida and only 19.5% wheat, company said the name was just a trademark; CCPA orders Rs 1 lakh fine for misleading consumers
Synopsis

CCPA has fined Pladis India Rs 1 lakh for marketing McVitie's Wholewheat Marie biscuits as "Wholewheat" despite the product being only 19.5% whole wheat against 52% maida. The company's defence, that the term was a registered trademark backed by a small on-pack disclaimer, was rejected as an attempt to mislead consumers through a "dark pattern" in packaging design.

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Wholewheat biscuit made with 52% maida and only 19.5% wheat, company said the name was just a trademark; CCPA orders Rs 1 lakh penalty for misleading consumers

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has fined Pladis India Pvt. Ltd., formerly known as United Biscuits, Rs 1 lakh for misleading consumers over its McVitie's Wholewheat Marie biscuits. The packaging prominently displays the word "Wholewheat" along with images of wheat stalks, but the ingredient list shows the biscuit is actually made of 52% refined flour (maida) and only 19.5% whole wheat flour.

CCPA's order says the case began after a news article referenced a social media video by Harsh Goenka, who had raised concerns about packaged foods being marketed as "healthy," "natural" or "organic" despite their ingredient lists telling a different story. The article specifically pointed out that some biscuits labelled "whole wheat" contained more refined flour than actual wheat, and warned that such products were also reaching rural markets with limited exposure to social media scrutiny.

How the investigation unfolded

Taking suo motu notice of the report, CCPA opened a preliminary inquiry and found that the "Whole Wheat" claim on the McVitie's pack did not match the product's declared composition. A notice was issued to the company in May 2025 asking it to explain the claim. When the company's response did not satisfy the authority, the matter was referred to CCPA's Director General for a detailed investigation, whose report came in mid-2026.

The investigation flagged several issues: the front-of-pack design used large wheat imagery and bold lettering that reinforced the impression of a whole-wheat product, while the disclaimer stating the word was "only a trademark" was printed in small, vertically oriented text that was easy to overlook. Investigators concluded that this combination amounted to a "dark pattern" known as interface interference, where prominent information is used to influence a buying decision while a qualifying disclosure is deliberately made hard to notice. The report also found that the packaging did not indicate the food's true nature, in violation of food labelling regulations that require product names to reflect what is actually inside.

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The company's defence

At a hearing in August 2026, Pladis's director and legal counsel argued that "Wholewheat" is a registered trademark of United Biscuits (UK) Ltd. and should not be treated as a factual claim about the product's contents. The company said the name was meant to differentiate the biscuit from a plain Marie biscuit made entirely of maida, and that the ingredient percentage had been disclosed as required under food labelling rules.

Pladis also pointed to the disclaimer on the pack reading that the name "is only a trademark and does not represent its true nature," arguing this addressed any potential confusion. Later, in written submissions, the company said it had acted in good faith, agreed to drop "Wholewheat" from the pack design, and asked for a nine-month transition period to use up existing packaging material rather than discard it.

Why CCPA didn't accept the explanation

CCPA rejected these arguments on several grounds. It held that trademark registration does not exempt a company from consumer protection law, and that a brand name cannot be used to make a claim that misleads buyers about what they are purchasing. The authority said an ordinary consumer would read "Wholewheat" as a statement about the product's composition, not as a technical label with a narrower legal meaning known only to the company.

On the disclaimer, CCPA said a small, hard-to-read qualifier cannot cancel out a bold, attention-grabbing claim elsewhere on the same pack. It noted that permitting such a defence would let companies sell biscuits with even smaller amounts of whole wheat, such as 5%, while still calling them "Whole Wheat" products. The order also references the company's own listings on quick-commerce platforms like Blinkit and BigBasket, where the same misleading branding was visible to online shoppers.

The final order

CCPA directed Pladis to immediately stop using the misleading claim across print, digital and social media, and to ensure all future packaging reflects the biscuit's actual composition. It imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for the violation and asked the company to submit a compliance report within 15 days confirming the changes have been made.

CCPA order here:

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