The task of destroying Maggi
Maggi’s across India have been recalled. We all have probably stopped eating anything from packets, at least as of now. But have we wondered how will Nestle be firstly, getting all the Maggi’s back and secondly, what does it propose to do with the recalled packets from across India?
First, the process of recall is massive and extremely tedious. The company has 38 distribution centres where the products are stored. Maggi noodles are thereafter sold to 1,400 distributors across the country, following which they are no longer under Nestle's direct control. They are sold to other distributors or to retailers. According to Neilsen's survey, Nestle's Maggi noodles are expected to be in the shelves of about 3.5 million retail outlets across the country.
The process of recalling means bringing back over 1.4 million cartons of Maggi from all across India to its factories. This means thousands of trucks are today plying, collecting Maggi packets. As at 13th June , some 5,848 tonnes of Maggi noodles were collected from the market shelves by Nestle distributors and 5,635 tonnes of noodles reached distribution centres from where 169 tonnes of noodles were incinerated so far.
So how does Maggi plan to destroy these Maggi’s? The process of incineration began on 9th June. The best way to destroy is by burning them off. But if a fire is lit, imagine the heat and not to mention the harm to the environment. The company has already tied up with five cement manufacturing units, where Maggi packets will be crushed and mixed, to be used as fuel to produce raw material for cement. Thus some 400 million packets to be burnt will take at least 40 days to complete if all the five furnaces run at their maximum capacity. Nestle has arranged 12 additional facilities to store the recalled noodles.
Whew! What a process and what a terrible waste of money, resources, energy and manpower. If only the company had taken care while manufacturing; it would not have had to pay such a big price; not to mention the tarnish on reputation.