Page 18 - PR COMMUNICATION AGE AUGUST 2015 SAMPLE

PRODUCT RECALL -
NEED OF THE HOUR :
MAGGI
- Shruti Sood
The Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) in Delhi ordered M/s
Nestle India Private Limited
to withdraw all nine variants for the domestic consumers?", FSSAI
of Maggie instant noodles with
tastemaker from the market with
immediate effect from all over the
country.
Officials said that there is a legitimate
reason behind the recall of the product,
citing that, it is the international
practice of penalizing firms and
mandatory recall if even a few samples
fail the test.
"As such, manufacturers often say we
should follow the global norms for food
items, known as CODEX. But while lead
content is allowed up to 2.25 ppm
(parts per million) in India, CODEX
norm stipulates a limit of between 0.1
and 2 ppm. The objective behind the
recall or ban on manufacturing is to
14 PR COMMUNICATION AGE August 2015
give manufacturers an opportunity to
improve and offer a better and safer
product to people. If they can do it for
overseas market, why can't they do so
officials stated.
The food and health safety, despite
the existence of standards and
regulations, is badly in need of
strong supervision and enforcement
of the law. It is easy to attack Maggi
because it is produced by a
multinational company, but the real
health hazards can be found in food
produced by the smaller sector, in
hotels and in street food. It is here
that our food regulators must start
to look for violations of the law.
Two questions arise: (i) if Maggi has
been putting out sub-standard noodles
targeted at children, why did it take
the food inspection system 32 years to
find out? (ii) what is the point of having
tough food
safety standards
if the system has result of the consumer's loss in
no capacity to
enforce them,
and the first
inspector who
does so claims
public accolades
for the same? A
system which
needs individual heroics to implement
the law will essentially be a corrupt
one.
There are only three ways to combat
food adulteration: (i) the public must
be educated on this. (ii) packaged food
makers and hotels must be sensitised
to improve hygiene standards by the
use of better technology and safer
ingredients. And (iii) we simply need
huge number of food inspectors all over
the country and effective food
regulators.
While this was estimated as the largest
product recall ever in India, Nestle has
pegged the total inventory to be
destroyed at about 30,000 tonnes,
against its earlier estimate of 27,420
tonnes. Value-wise, it has pegged the
overall loss on account of recall and
destruction at Rs 320 crore.
With a commanding 63% market
share of instant noodles sold in India
in 2014, Nestlé's Maggi brand is
bound to be the biggest loser as a
confidence in processed snacks.
However, the scare surrounding the
Maggi recall has affected other
brands as well, according to Indian
media reports. The entire instant
noodles segment has taken a hit in the
country.