Relief comes following a petition filed by Nestle, challenging the withdrawal and recall order of the FSSAI
New Delhi : Students, street vendors, bachelors and professionals heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday after the Bombay High Court ruled that the Maggi noodles popular snack-in-a-jiffy could resume sales after clearing a series of tests over the next six weeks.
Ramesh Nayak, 26, is among many of those whose livelihoods were dependent on Maggi.
“I had to stop running my Maggi cart for a while after the ban and instead started selling chowmein. I think company packed Maggi noodles are safer rather than local made chowmein. I am glad I can go back to selling Maggi soon,” Nayak told IANS. Nayak would sell around 60-70 plates of cooked Maggi noodles from his cart, parked in a busy area in south Delhi and would charge Rs.20 for plain Maggi and Rs.25 for cheese or vegetable additions. For many bachelors and students in the country, the lifting of the ban came as a huge relief.
Said Manasvini Rangaraj, 19, a final year student of nutrition and dietetics in Chennai: “I surely miss Maggi the comfort food. If Maggi passes the quality tests and launches again I will surely buy it even if have to stand in a queue. It used to be my midnight snack. I will not buy Maggi if the lead content is beyond the prescribed levels.”
For young mother of two children Mona Lisa, 32, the step came as a disappointment.
“I am disappointed with the ban being lifted. I don’t encourage my kids to have junk food. After the ban, my kids were also scared to consume junk food and would insist on healthier home-cooked food. Now I’m scared they’ll again turn to unhealthy food,” Mona Lisa told IANS.
The relief came following a petition filed by Nestle India, challenging the withdrawal and recall order of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The watchdog had passed its orders on June 5, following which Nestle had withdrawn Maggi from the market.
For Krishnan Balaji, a 29-year-old PR professional working in Delhi, the ban on the product was unreasonable.
“I’m happy that the ban on Maggi was lifted. I’m sure this comeback will be welcomed by Maggi lovers across the country. It was very unreasonable to ban a product which has existed in the country for years,” Balaji told IANS.
Questioning the ban, he said: “When the government does not ban cigarettes, which everyone knows can cause only harm, why was the haste to ban Maggi, with erroneous test results coming from labs?” Balaji also added that he’s been eating Maggi for over 15 years now and hasn’t had a single illness upon eating it.
From what Chef Bharghav Naresh, who works with a luxury hotel in Jaipur, said, they also had their kitchen cabinets at home stocked with Maggi noodles to use after a long day at work.
“I’m very happy to get my comfort food back, which I make sure I stock up to use after long days at work. I’m sure Maggi will make a good comeback and I think a majority of the country is waiting to pick their Maggi packets soon,” Naresh told IANS on the phone. The ban on Maggi noodles came as quite a surprise, he added.
“It was surprising to hear about the ban. I felt sure that a company with a great reputation like Nestle, the larger maker of baby food, must have looked into all legalities and safety issues before putting their products on the shelves,” Naresh said.
The watchdog had passed its orders on June 5, following which Nestle had withdrawn Maggi from the market.
