Nestlé's Maggi noodles is in a soup in India. This is one of
the flagship Brand of Nestle in India. India is the largest consumer of Maggi
noodles across all Nestle operations in the world. Maggi is an international
brand of instant soups, ketchups, instant noodles etc. It is owned by Nestlé
since 1947 (the original company was founded in Switzerland in 1872 by Julius
Maggi)
No one including Carlo Donati who was the person who
brought the instant noodle brand to India during his short stint in the early
1980s would have thought this quagmire for Nestlé's Maggi noodles in India.
Nestlé India Ltd is the leader with a 63% market value
share. Its Maggi brand was the most entrenched instant noodle brand in India in
2014. This is mainly because of its widespread distribution network and
consumer loyalty towards it for being a pioneer in the noodle category in
India.
What is the
controversy around Maggi? What have tests shown?
A officer of the UP Food Safety and Drug Administration
based in Barabanki ordered tests on a dozen samples of Nestle’s Maggi instant
noodles at the state laboratory in Gorakhpur, and repeat tests at the Central
Food Laboratory in Kolkata, a referral lab.
The Gorakhpur lab tested for monosodium glutamate (MSG) to
check Nestle’s claim that Maggi had none. Both tests found MSG; in addition,
the Kolkata lab found “very high quantities” of lead — 17.2 parts per million —
according to UP authorities.
What went wrong?
How can such a strong brand/ product can come down so fast? Will
things revive for maggi? What struck maggi? A very small issue in a remote
place snowballed. One thing is for sure that Nestle cannot deny the fact that
there was nothing wrong in the product. In fact the company has come up with an
statement that their product is safe for the consumption.
Nestle India said it has got tested samples of the noodle
brand in an external laboratory as well as in-house and the product has been
found "safe to eat" with lead levels within the permissible levels
for consumption.
Nestle India said on May 21, “We do not add MSG to our Maggi
noodles sold in India and this is stated on the concerned product. However, we
use hydrolysed groundnut protein, onion powder and wheat flour to make Maggi
noodles sold in India, which all contain glutamate. We believe that the
authorities’ tests may have detected glutamate, which occurs naturally in many
foods.”
Even if we believe what Nestle is calming; a very important
question here is - Is it not responsibility of Nestle, who should have
conducted the test and should have checked for MSG. It is Nestlé’s responsibility
to check of MSG even if it is coming from Natural sources. Major target
customers for maggi are children so they should have kept the food safety a
priority for their product.
As far as lead is concerned, Nestle India has also said it
“regularly monitors” for lead, including testing by accredited laboratories. On
June 1, the company said it had submitted samples from almost 600 product
batches to an “external laboratory” for an “independent analysis”, but did not
identify the lab. It also said it had conducted in-house tests on 1,000 samples
at its accredited laboratory. “These samples represent around 125 million
packets. All the results of these internal and external tests show that lead
levels are well within the limits specified by food regulations and that Maggi
noodles are safe to eat. We are sharing these results with the authorities,”
Nestle said.
Reports in news are coming where more than one sample have
failed for lead testing. The question here is how these labs can give wrong
results? There has to be something wrong. How can results be so different when
it comes to government labs and Nestlé’s in house and accredited laboratories?
The issue of health is not new to nestle for maggi. They changed
their marketing strategy few years back very sucessfuly when they realized that
health is now a very important concern for Indian consumers. Nestle just at the
right time, came up with the campaign “Taste Bhi-Health Bhi”. This was a very successful
campaign and they proved that “marketing does matter”.
It seems Nestle had missed a very basic principal that just
advertising campaigns are not sufficient. If the company talks about the health,
it should actually be reflected in the product as well.
Lets look at few
facts –
Its Interesting to look at Nestle’s Annual report
It reflects Maggi as its one of the most powerful brands in
India. Few of Nestle’s marketing achievement on Maggi are –
MAGGI amongst the Top 5 in Brand Equity’s ‘Most Trusted
Brands’ 2014
MAGGI adjudged the Most Powerful Brand in India by WPP
Milward Brown (2014)
What Nestlé’s Annual report says is (some parts of massage
by the chairman and the managing director)
India is severely
impacted by malnutrition. While on the one hand, inability to access or afford
nutritious food is causing under-nutrition and related disorders, it is also
forecasted that economic growth and related lifestyles changes will lead to
over-nutrition related disorders such as obesity, and further aggravate the
double burden of nutrition.
..
‘Good Food, Good Life’
is our mission and we are constantly researching and observing the role that
food plays in the lives of consumers across the income pyramid. We are focused
on understanding the changing lifestyles, evolving needs, and dietary preferences
of consumers and rely on Nestlé’s extensive global R&D network and
expertise in science based nutrition to develop products that enable consumers
to lead better lives and help them to improve nutrition in their daily diets.
..
Our vision and
ambition is to be the recognized leader of Nutrition, Health and Wellness in
India.
..
We are convinced that
it is the winning strategy and will strengthen our ability to provide our
consumers with Nutrition, Health and Wellness.
The Managing Director Mr. Etienne Benet’s statement is –
As a Company we
maintain high standards and values. Stakeholders have seen that we are ethical
and responsible with strong business principles.
In fact Mr. Benet answers a question in the report –
Q. How do we ensure that the food we eat is good?
Ansewer - People tend to categorize foods as good or bad
primarily on account of mis-information and the lack of awareness. No food is
good or bad. Each food has a role to play in our diets and we need to also
appreciate that responsible pleasure is part of a balanced lifestyle. When our
lifestyles change, we need foods that enable us to live that lifestyle and also
provide Nutrition, Health and Wellness. The need is to constantly understand
the changing lifestyles and to use R&D and the science of nutrition to
develop high quality products that can complement the consumers.
Reading the report which I did after the reports in media by
Food-safety regulator testing for contamination after state authorities found
seven-times permissible level of lead in a routine test.
The report reflects very clearly (if one looks closely) that
Nestle’s focus is more on Branding and Food safety is missing in the report. There
is literally no discussion on Food safety where as the company has decorated
its report with lot of big talks where they present themselves as big savior of
India which in severely impacted by
malnutrition.
Look at one more part of the report . This is Q&A with
the General Manager ‘Maarten Geraets’
Q. But how can Healthy food be enjoyable?
Answer - This is where food technology and expertise in
nutrition can make the difference. Even though there is growing awareness about
healthy eating, health seems to be a boring thought for many of us or we just
do not have the time. Therefore, we set ourselves the objective ‘Health ko
Mazedaar Banaao’. We have been working very closely with Nestlé R&D to pack
in nutrition and taste. We already have a range of excellent products in the portfolio
and the latest is MAGGI Oat Noodles.
Looking at this report the cause of the problem is clearly
the neglect of Food Safety and focus on the branding of Maggie. It seems that
the onus of keeping the Maggi safe was on R&D where as the top management
was more interested in branding of Maggi and they are talking of nutrition and
taste. They have missed the concept of food safty. Even if the lead or MSG was
coming from external sources and they were not mixing it in their product they
should have checked it, afterall it was their product and they had claimed it
to be a healthy product. This again is a classic text book example how shortsightedness
in marketing can crumble a strong brand like Maggi.
I too am in pain as Maggi has been a favorite food for me
and my family but today I feel cheated.
