Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali company has been accused of selling substandard ghee, and the ADM court in Pithoragarh has imposed a total fine of ₹1.40 lakh on the manufacturer and distributor. The case relates to the failure of a sample of Patanjali cow ghee taken in 2020.

According to Food Safety Department officials, samples taken in October 2020 initially failed at the state lab. Later, at the request of traders, they were sent to the central government's referral lab in 2021, where they failed again in 2022. A case was subsequently filed in February 2022, and the court delivered its verdict on November 19, 2024.

Following this action, Patanjali issued a statement on X, calling the court order flawed. The company argued that…

• The referral lab was not accredited to test cow ghee, hence its test should not be considered valid.
• The rules on the basis of which ghee was declared unsuccessful were not in force at that time.
• The re-testing was done after the expiry date of the ghee, which naturally makes the report invalid.

  Patanjali says the court didn't consider these arguments, so the company is now filing an appeal with the Food Safety Tribunal. They also said the decision didn't state that ghee is harmful to health, only that there was a slight difference in the RM value, which they believe is due to natural causes and doesn't affect quality.

  The company claimed that the RM value varies depending on the season, animal diet, and regional conditions, and that the FSSAI has revised it from time to time. Patanjali says it sources milk and ghee from across the country based on strict standards and sells the products nationally.