Two weeks after government authorities found lead and monosodium gultamate (MSG) in Maggi noodles, Nestle's global CEO Paul Bulcke, in a press conference on Friday, said the noodles are clean as per company's testing protocols.
The management also said they are in talks with the government to understand their testing methods and for resolution of the matter.
Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman & MD of Bisleri said that in such cases, the government needs to be more pro-active on field instead of in office. It is the duty of regulators like Food safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to do regular sample checks on products. The entire issue has been blown out of proportion, he said.
For the issue to be resolved, the controversy needs to die down first, he said. As far as the management of Nestle is concerned, Chauhan said this is the best they could have done.
Rama Bijapurkar, consumer expert, the consumers don’t know whether to believe the government's findings or Nestle's claim that the product is safe. The matter will be resolved only once there is clear communication between the government and the management, she added.
Expressing his views, Industry expert, Harish Bijoor, said the company should pull out the products as promised, and eventually bring in clean and new products.
Multinational companies (MNCs) need to be more diligent in following protocols before putting products on shelfs. Irrespective of issues like water contamination and chemical residuals in soil, it is the company’s duty to provide clean products, he said.
Below is the transcript of Ramesh Chauhan’s, Rama Bijapurkar’s and Harish Bijoor’s interview on CNBC-TV18.
Q: I do not know if you have heard Nestle management in the press conference. I am assuming you have. What would you think of the way they have handled it now? Do you think that they have managed in some small measure to handle the crisis as it has emerged?
Chauhan: I have not heard the press conference. But at the same time, the handling of the case is a difficult one. I do not know how I would handle it.
Q: How much of a dent would this be to a brand like Maggi? It is a brand that is popular pan-India. You are at the helm of a popular brand yourself. Has too little been done too late? India is just four percent of Nestle’s overall sales and still we have the global CEO who has come and addressed these concerns that the Indian media has raised and the authorities have raised. Do you think that too little has been done too late or is this the best that they could have done?
Chauhan: That is the best that they could have done because I do not know what the real issue is and it is blown out of proportion if you ask me.
Q: What is your quick take on the way this entire issue has been handled by the management of Nestle? Did the press conference give you any confidence at all in their management of the issue?
Bijapurkar: No. At the moment, I am perfectly disabled consumer sitting in a village far away with Maggi Noodles in my kitchen shelf waiting to see whether I can consume it or not. So, from what I hear has been said at the conference they are saying that there is another set of study that they have done that shows that everything is okay.
I am faced, as a consumer, with one set that comes from the government who I also have credibility and trust in, who says it is not okay, one set from Nestle that says it is okay and I am not very clear how I am supposed to make sense out of all this. That is what I am thinking sitting where I am.
Q: How long do you think this entire saga is going to play out, what is the timeline you are looking out, three months, six months, best case scenario?
Bijapurkar: It is a very tough one for me. It depends on how quickly they come back and tell me not just their side of the story, but the other side and resolve this. If they resolve it very quickly, I will be surprised.
In the past if you look, it has taken a couple of months and then it is back again in action but it all depends on what they do now which is not just to say my side is perfect but to just try and get some handle on what is happening with the testing data on the other side. If they do that tomorrow and tell me it is perfect and by the way, it is just a situation on this, then I don’t see that there is a problem.
Q: After two weeks of this entire crisis unfolding, the management has come and addressed the media and consumers. The one thing that the CEO kept repeating was that there is ‘no added MSG’; that it may have been present in the raw materials, we have not done it, as a consumer or as someone who is watching this entire episode unfold, is that something that you would take heart in?
Bijoor: I do believe this is a specific issue. Companies, corporates, marketing entities need to take to heart that they need to be very clear with the consumer. Saying no added MSG doesn’t mean too much. Sometimes when you say that, you are possibly communicating to the consumer that no MSG is present. I think the global CEO of Nestle has taken a decision and I hope that they pull out this label as he has promised.
Q: Is there a problem that a couple of Indian Food and Drug Administrations (FDAs) like Goa have cleared the product?
Bijoor: If you look at it, I wouldn’t worry about the fact that Maggi all over the country is tainted with lead and MSG because there are several issues, which has been raised. One is the testing protocol; whether you test only the tastemaker or whether you test the entire sample of 75gms.
At the end of the day, I do believe from a consumer point of view, the product looks completely safe but the point is over the last two weeks for Nestle, this entire episode is like a negative soap opera for Maggi. The right thing is to pull it all out, purge the system, bring in new staff, put in new controls and make a fresh start.
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