New Delhi, Nov. 9 : Nestle India on Monday announced the fresh roll out of Maggi to markets, thus giving an eve of Diwali gift to the people of the nation.
“I am truly delighted to be able to give back Maggi to the home it belongs, which is millions of consumers, who have loved this brand for all these years. So, it’s a very very happy moment coming on Dhanteras, on the eve of Diwali, this is our small gift to the consumers in India as they celebrate the festive season,” Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director of Nestle India told ANI in an exclusive interview here.
“Maggi has been around for 32 years. It is a pioneer. It is a brand that has took the test of time. It has defined eating habits. It has been part of relationships, consumer repertoire of consumption in all these years,” he added.
Narayanan asserted that quality and safety is at the core of their organisation.
“Quality equals trust for us. We will take the journey forward in an active, engaging manner with the consumers. Hopefully, with the passage of time, we will be able to establish with them that the Maggi that they had yesterday, today and tomorrow is of the same quality and it is absolutely hundred percent safe,” he said.
Nestle India had announced earlier their stand has been vindicated after 100 percent of Maggi Noodles samples sent from the newly manufactured stocks tested by three laboratories were cleared.
Maggi is presently manufacturing at Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa). For the other two locations at Tahliwal and Pantnagar, they have been engaging with the relevant authorities in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to obtain directions for commencing the manufacture of the noodles.
It maybe recalled that an officer of the UP Food Safety and Drug Administration, who was based in Barabanki, had ordered tests on a dozen samples of Nestle’s Maggi instant noodles at the state laboratory in Gorakhpur, and asked for repeat tests at the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata, a referral lab.
The Gorakhpur lab tested for monosodium glutamate (MSG) to check Nestle’s claim that Maggi had none. Both tests found MSG; in addition, the Kolkata lab found “very high quantities” of lead – 17.2 parts per million – according to the concerned authorities in Uttar Pradesh.
The the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had ordered Nestle to withdraw all nine variants of Maggi instant noodles from the market in the first week of June this year, terming them “unsafe and hazardous” for human consumption.
Thereafter, the multinational food company approached the Bombay High Court against the order.
According to Nestle, the FSSAI order of June 5 was based “solely on the test report and not on any risk assessment, communication or risk management.”
Nestle had then said that there was no question of Maggi noodles posing a health risk or of Nestle violating the law of the land. This prompted the Bombay High Court to order fresh tests, which resulted in an all clear for Nestle and Maggi eventually. (ANI)