Maggi noodle in crisis, again: After lead, now it's ash taking away spice
An FSSAI official said the
body was closely monitoring the developments
LATEST
NEWS : Just when India’s
favourite instant noodle brand Maggi was about to claim back its dominance over
the market, the iconic brand is under pressure, again. Maggi
noodle, which had earlier faced a lot of scrutiny and a subsequent
market share loss over an alleged presence of lead, is now under a regulator's
scanner over alleged violation of another safety norm.
The district food and drug administration officials of
Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, have sent a legal notice to Nestle India – the
makers of Maggi noodle – and its trade partners in the region, seeking Rs 71
lakh as damages and for violation of food safety norms. The notice was issued
after the UP FDA found a high level of ash content in the samples of the
noodle. According to a PTI report, the Maggi noodle samples were collected from
the Shahjahanpur area in November 2016.
While Nestle India is yet to receive a copy of the notice,
it told Business Standard that the lab report might have been formed on the
basis of quality standards that are now obsolete. However, the question that
haunts millions of consumers and its patrons is how the noodle failed a lab
test after the matter was settled in 2016, when the country’s apex court had
given it a clean chit following stringent tests at independent laboratories
across India.
After lead, it's ash:
From the facts that have emerged so far and from a research
done by this publication, it prima facie appears that the issue of ash content
in packaged food, specifically in case of Maggi noodle, is an ambiguous area.
Last time, when Maggi noodle was found to be sub-standard for human
consumption, the main issue pertained to the presence of lead in a quantity
higher than permissible. This, eventually led to a ban on the products across
the country on 5 June, 2015. What followed was a period of uncertainty for the
Swiss major in India and elsewhere.
However, this time it is about the presence of high levels
of ash in the instant noodle.
After much deliberations, Nestle India, along with other
FMCG majors in the country, had in 2016 approached the apex food regulator –
the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) -- to revise the limit
of ash permissible in food products. Following this, the FSSAI had proposed to
double the limit of ash content in packaged foods to two per cent – from the
earlier one per cent – in July 2016.
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