NEW DELHI: The wait is finally over for noodle lovers as the popular instant noodles ‘Maggi’ is back on the shelves in select markets from Monday, five months after it was banned for allegedly containing lead beyond the permissible limit.
Nestle India has also partnered with online marketplace Snapdeal for the rollout.
“The rollout has begun today. It has been a challenging period for the Nestle organisation, and therefore, there is a feeling of satisfaction at bringing back Maggi noodles to the market,” Nestle India said in a statement.
Suresh Narayanan, Nestle India CMD said Maggi has been relaunched in 100 towns through 300-odd distributors and will be rolled out in more areas in the coming days.
The company, which has suffered a damage of nearly `530 crore due to the ban, has also not ruled out a suit against food safety regulator, FSSAI. In June, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banned the production and sale of Maggi amid claims that samples contained dangerously high levels of lead and the taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Commenting on the class action suit, he said it is ‘unfortunate’ but added that we will defend ourself to the best of our abilities in the matter.
The Bombay High Court overturned the ban a month later and asked the company to get samples tested by three labs accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
Narayanan said Nestle India has not changed the contents of Maggi saying “we give what consumers have loved for 32 years”, adding that the only change is on the package by adding “a small set of words” that conveys the company’s “commitment to quality and goodness” that “consumers can trust.”
At present, Nestle India is manufacturing Maggi noodles at three locations - Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa). Two more plants in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand - where the instant noodles is still banned - are yet to start and he said the company is engaging with authorities there in order to start production in those two units at the earliest.
He said at the moment the ban on Maggi is in effect in eight states. “Most states do not have a ban on sale of Maggi noodles. For states where specific directions are required, we are engaging with them,” the company said.
Sharing the company’s strategy to win back trust of consumers, he said Nestle India will carry out intensified campaigns across various medium to overcome the impact on the Maggi brand by the whole controversy, “what has been like a life issue for a human being” and “to nurture the brand back to its health.”
Maggi had accounted for about 40% of Nestle India’s sales, which stood at `9,854.84 crore in the last fiscal.
“ All the competitors would do their best in terms of wooing customers. When the market leader was off the market, the category had collapsed. That’s the truth,” he said. To start with, Maggi noodles would be available only in masala variant at the same price as of June 2015, he said, adding “the rest other formats would be introduced gradually.”