Suddenly food, or the safety thereof, is all the rage in India and its social media. All thanks to the efforts of one IAS officer, Tukaram Mundhe, Commissioner, Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in Maharashtra. He has now become a social media sensation. His efforts have had ripples even in far-off Kolkata where the food inspection has gone on an overdrive.
However, much before Tukaram Mundhe, there was one Sanjay Singh, in Barabanki. I bet, you haven’t heard of him. I’m sure, you haven’t heard of Barabanki either. Well, it’s a small, remote place in Uttar Pradesh. Unlike Tukaram Mundhe who is a senior IAS officer, Sanjay Singh was a small-time food inspector, doing his small-time things in small-time Barabanki. However, one of his very small actions nearly brought a 100-billion-dollar global behemoth (Nestle) down.
What happened was this.
On March 10, 2014, Sanjay Singh was browsing around in
a retail store, Easyday, close to his office and “No added MSG” written on a
Maggi pack intrigued him. The regulation was for MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
which is actually legal in India. So, the product had only to declare whether
there was MSG or not so why the word “added?” Sanjay Singh seized a four-pack
sample of Maggi from the retailer and sent it off for routine checking to a
government laboratory in Gorakhpur. The lab test result was positive for MSG.
The mischief was that the company knew its product was having MSG but didn’t
declare it properly by using the word “added” because, presence of MSG required
a declaration on the package warning that the product was not recommended for
children under 12 months. This warning would have made parents concerned and
the infant and child markets of Maggi would’ve been adversely affected, hence
the subterfuge.
This was actually a minor infringement and involved a fine of Rs. 3 lacs. If Nestle had paid up, that would’ve been the end of the story. However, despite knowing that they had been caught out, Nestle decided to appeal. Thereafter, another sample of Maggi was sent to the referral lab in Kolkata. And, things went haywire for Nestle.
The Kolkata lab report
(April 2015) confirmed the presence of MSG. However, this was a more
comprehensive report and it also tested for lead which turned out to
be 17.2 ppm, against a permissible limit of 2.5 ppm. This sent the alarm bells
ringing because, lead is a powerful neurotoxin; lead poisoning through food
carries serious health risks including behavioural disorders, hypertension,
cardiovascular problems, kidney damage. Possibility of cancer has also been
flagged.
After the Kolkata lab report, the Food Safety Commissioner,
Uttar Pradesh served a notice on Nestle with the report on May 1, 2015. In
their multi-national corporate arrogance, Nestle “dismissed” the report, sent a
stack of its own internal monitoring documents, and “advised” the regulator
that, based on its (i.e., Nestle’s) own review, no further action should be
taken in this case. I have served as a regulator for six years with government
of India (BCAS, Civil Aviation). This kind of attitude and reply would’ve
stunned and riled me no end and propelled me to the severest action.
Enter Mr. Yudhvir Singh Mallik, IAS, head of FSSAI (Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India), the pan-India regulator in this case.
On May 25, 2015, he wrote to all state food safety commissioners asking them to
test Maggi and submit findings to FSSAI by June 1. Out of 72 samples tested
across India, 30 had lead content above the maximum prescribed 2.5 ppm. Seeing
as things were getting out of hand, on the morning of June 4, the global CEO of
Nestle, Paul Bulcke landed in India. He led the Nestle team for a hearing held
by FSSAI on the same day.
During the Meeting, Bulcke presented Nestlé’s internal lab
data, arguing fiercely that Maggi was perfectly safe. However, the FSSAI
officials remained unconvinced. They presented data from government labs
showing lead content up to seven times the legal limit, as well as mis-labeled
MSG packaging.
Sensing that the regulator was not satisfied (read,
everyone can’t be bought over), Nestle put its PR machinery and firefighting
teams into overdrive. Just after midnight of June 4/5, at 1 AM, they issued an
emergency public statement announcing a voluntary, nationwide recall of Maggi
noodles. Early morning on June 5, Bulcke sent urgent emails to all business
partners and stakeholders across India, ordering them to stop selling the
noodles and pull them from store shelves. They sent a short statement to Stock
Exchange: “In spite of Maggi noodles being safe, Nestle India decides to take
the product off shelves.” They also sent a message to FSSAI on this and decided
to hold a Press Conference on the same day (5.6.2015) at 1200 hrs. at The
Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi.
Roughly 40 minutes into the live-broadcasted press
conference, there were breaking news flashes across TV screens nationwide: The
FSSAI officially issues a nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale, and
distribution of all nine variants of Maggi noodles. Actually, FSSAI gave the
reasons for rejecting the submissions of Nestle and banned the products for 15
days pending reply by Nestle as to why the product approvals should not be
revoked. The ban pronounced Maggi as “unsafe and hazardous for human
consumption.”
This was a disaster for Nestle on an epic scale. In 2014,
3.5 million outlets in India sold Maggi and Indians consumed 4,00,000 tonnes of
instant noodles. There were ripple effects in other countries including Nepal,
Bahrain and some African countries. U.K., Canada, Singapore, etc. launched
rigorous inspections of Maggi samples, especially Maggi imports from India. In
some cities in India, protestors smashed and set fire to packets of Maggi and
photos of Bollywood stars who had endorsed them. One news channel compared it
to the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
Nestle lost at least $ 277 million in lost sales, $ 70
million in executing the product recall and an estimated $ 200 million in loss
of brand value. However, its response was interesting. Instead of replying to
FSSAI’s notice, it rushed to the Bombay High Court to file a writ petition on
June 11, 2015 against the ban. There were rumours that the whole
controversy was created to facilitate either Baba Ramdev’s entry into the
noodles market or ITC promoting its product ‘Sunfeast Yippee.” There were also rumours that these rumours were spread by Nestle.
[To be continued]
