Mysuru: Manufacture of Maggi noodles has picked up at the factory at Nanjangud in Mysuru district after Nestle India relaunched Maggi noodles on the 9th of this month.
Production was halted after Nestle India announced that they were taking the noodles off the shelves, on June 5 this year in view of safety concerns concerning Maggi. When contacted by Deccan Chronicle on safety clearances and the current status of the product, the spokesperson of Nestle India, Karnataka, Mr Himanshu Manglik said, “We have re-launched Maggi noodles in compliance with the orders of Mumbai High Court. We have received results from all three NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited laboratories mandated by the Mumbai High Court to test the earlier and also the newly manufactured Maggi Noodles samples and they are cent percent clear. All the samples of the newly manufactured Maggi Noodles Masala have been cleared, with lead much below permissible limits. Also during the entire process, Nestlé India has conducted over 3500 tests on over 200 million packs in both national as well as international accredited laboratories and all reports are clear. In addition to these, various countries including US, UK, Singapore, Australia and others have found Maggi Noodles exported from India safe for consumption. We constantly work with 11 internal and external laboratories to monitor and ensure food safety end to end,” he told DC.
The plant at Nanjangud which was started in 2011, manufactures 75 tons of Maggi per day. It is one of the five plants which meets the total demand for Maggi across the country and abroad including US, Canada, UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Currently, along with the Nanjangud plant, Bicholim in Goa and Moga in Punjab have begun operations.
“We are yet to start production in Patnagar in Uttarakhand, and Tahliwal in Himachal Pradesh, as we are involved with the authorities and other stakeholders for necessary clearances,” Mr Himanshu said.
When asked about the loss incurred and their plans to regain the market, he said, “during the withdrawal and stoppage of production in all five units, Nestle India has suffered loss of Rs 4,700 million. We have recalled and destroyed over 35,000 tonnes of Maggi Noodles. But now since the re-launch, we have already covered about 350 towns and sold about 3.3 crore packets of Maggi Noodles Masala through 1.2 lakh outlets,” he said
On the measures taken to safeguard the interest of employees during the leave period, he said, “Nestle India has 7,000 employees with majority of them working in Maggi plants, including over 700 in Nanjangud plant. All the permanent employees were engaged in several skill development programmes conducted by the company during the leave period.
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