Our Ethics
A Manifesto of Refusal
India did not build a standard for unacceptable ingredients. We have.
Quick commerce extended the shelf life of food to twelve months. Kaju katli, made to last days, has been reformulated to last a year.
The standard we hold — for ourselves, and for every brand we carry — is what follows.
What We Reject
Nine categories. No exceptions.
Refined Seed Oils
Solvent-extracted. Inflammatory at the dose Indian packaged food contains. Palm · Sunflower · Soybean · Rice bran · Canola · Corn · Cottonseed · Vanaspati · Any oil extracted with hexane
Chemical Preservatives
Several form carcinogens in food. Most alter gut bacteria at daily-consumption doses. Sodium benzoate · Potassium sorbate · Nitrites · Calcium propionate · BHA · BHT · TBHQ · Sulphites · Calcium carbide
Biopreservatives
Nisin is a lantibiotic. Natamycin is a clinical antifungal. “Cultured” ingredients are often the same compounds, undisclosed. Nisin · Natamycin · Lysozyme · LAE · Velcorin · Cultured dextrose, sugar, celery, wheat starch
Artificial Sweeteners
Alter gut microbiota in human trials. None inert. Aspartame · Sucralose · Acesulfame-K · Saccharin · High-fructose corn syrup · Maltodextrin used as a sweetener
Emulsifiers
Thin the intestinal mucus layer — the mechanism behind processed food's link to chronic inflammation. Carrageenan · Polysorbate 80 · Polysorbate 60 · CMC · Mono- & diglycerides · Hexane-extracted soy lecithin
Flavours
“Natural” and “artificial” are regulatory categories, not chemical ones. Both are undisclosed compound mixtures. Natural flavours · Artificial flavours · Nature-identical · MSG · Yeast extract used as flavour · Spice extracts
Industrial Colours
Petroleum-derived. Several carry warning labels in the European Union. Tartrazine · Sunset Yellow · Allura Red · Carmoisine · Caramel III & IV · Titanium dioxide
Dough & Flour Conditioners
Possible human carcinogens. Industrial bleaching agents. Potassium bromate · Azodicarbonamide · Chlorine dioxide · Benzoyl peroxide · L-cysteine derived from animal hair
Residues & Adulterants
Tested in-house. Five hundred tests a day. Organophosphates · Glyphosate · Calcium carbide ripening · Formalin · Antibiotic and hormonal residues in dairy
What We Require
Whole, unprocessed inputs. Nothing synthesised. Nothing recombined.
Direct from farmers we know. Not from certificates we cannot verify.
Every batch tested in our lab. Decontamination — screening, baking soda, ozone — before anything reaches the kitchen.
Time as an ingredient. Oils pressed today. Sauces, pastas, nut butters made today. Tomato sauce: four ingredients. No fifth.
Live cultures, or no claim. Pasteurised kombucha is flavoured vinegar water.
Every product carries a scannable lab report. You read data, not claims.
Health is not a correction. It is a connection — to real food, real growers, and a body that has known what to do long before the first emulsifier was synthesised.
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