By Ruma Dubey

“Bas do minute” has become a nightmare. Not just for Nestle for lakhs of Indians, children especially who are literally addicted to Maggi noodles.

The presence of lead beyond the prescribed limits was shocking to say the least. It was shocking because – we Indian trust MNCs. We think that it is a Nestle or a P&G, it has be the best quality. We do not even have an inkling of doubt. But at the same time, if this had happened at say, a Marico or Emami, we would have shrugged our shoulders and said nonchalantly, “desi company, what do you expect?”

This unequivocal faith in MNCs is dented permanently. If it had been some other brand of food, we might not even have heard the sound of this breaking of faith but because it was Maggi, virtually a must-have-food in every household,  the crack of trust produced a resounding noise; we wonder if this crack will ever be mended.

What was equally disappointing is the slow and almost don’t-care response of the Nestle management. The ruckus over Maggi noodles has been making a din for a couple of days now; there was an almost unperturbed silence from the management. Even when states across India announced that they all would be testing the noodles, there was no damage control from the management. But they woke up with a start only when the aroma of this instant noodle broth spread beyond India – Singapore and UK were the first to ban export of Maggi from India. Soon others followed and that is when the topman of Nestle of decided to issue a statement, which was typically generic, giving away nothing.  If the same thing had happened in a developed country, they would have got into damage control mode immediately. In USA, the company could have been sued to the hilt; here, we are talking about a hefty fine.

This callousness from Nestle is what hurt the most. We Indians literally celebrate the MNC brands like some crown on the head but get treated with such disdain. So quality be damned – isn’t that the message we get? We Indians have a “chalega” attitude; so has that same attitude crept into the working model of MNCs? Are best practices thrown to the wind when it comes to India because it is “chalega” and they probably know that waving a few wads of dollars can get them through anything?

But at the same time, the blame lay on us too. Why this explicit faith on MNCs? We think that they are some of the best run companies of the world and they will bring the same to India. But do they really do that?  Our Indian facilities get examined almost on a day-to-day basis by the authorities abroad but do we do the same here? Last year, Alphonso mangoes from India to Europe were banned but we continued to guzzle aerated water which had once contained pesticides?

In fact talking about facilities, the Uttar Pradesh’s Food Safety and Drug Administration should be celebrated for being the first to break this news. But the real story here is that maybe we could see more such adultery but the Food Safety and Drug Administration simply does not have the manpower to conduct more tests on more products. Random tests on products from the markets is the job of this organization across the country but it cannot do as much as it should as it does not have people – neither to go to the market nor to conduct the tests. And this shortage of manpower means scores of food products that we eat today goes unchecked, maybe adulterated beyond human consumption.

Food safety is suddenly the hot topic. The question has come to the fore – who exactly conducts tests to ensure that what we are eating is fit for human consumption. Well, we do have a principal nodal agency - Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSI). Set up in 2008, it deals mainly with adulteration in milk, oil, meat, fruit. It lays down rules and regulations for setting up such manufacturing units and labs, also advising on food safety and nutrition. With such an important role to play, we rarely hear of FSSI; in fact we are more familiar with US FDA than our very own FSSI.

Plagued with the general lackadaisical attitude which pans almost all Govt agencies, this one faces acute manpower shortage, outdated infrastructure and testing labs. Posts of food inspectors are lying vacant for over three-four years.  So when the watchdog itself is not doing its job, why should it be a surprise to see robbers making merry?

Well, at least Maggi brought FSSI and out fixation with anything MNC to the fore. Nestle will now get into rectifying the situation just like how Cadbury and Coca Cola did. But the trust is gone and broken forever. It makes us question about what goes into these pizzas and burgers, sandwiches, and all instand foods.  It’s back to good old Indian snacks like idli, upma, poha, pakoras, chaats, vada paavs. No more instant food – at least till the memory and bad taste over Maggi fades away.

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