Maggi ban: Nestle claims it's being 'singled out', says govt soft on competitors

New Delhi: Alleging bias, Nestle India Limited today told the apex consumer commission that it was being “singled out” by the government in the Maggi noodles ban case as no action was being taken against other manufacturers of similar products. Citing Bombay High Court order which had set aside the countrywide ban on Maggi, the company also sought to recall an earlier order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) by which it had admitted government’s Rs 640 crore suit against the noodles manufacturer for alleged unfair trade practices and other charges.[caption id=“attachment_2407320” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] A bench, headed by justice VK Jain, issued notice to the government on the company’s plea and sought response by 8 October. It also issued notice to Nestle on a separate plea filed by the government seeking further testing of Maggi noodles. The company opposed the government’s suit saying that due to the ban, around 9,000 vendors and 10,000 suppliers were rendered unemployed and it has suffered a loss of nearly Rs 250 crore. “It has caused a huge damage to our reputation… to the extent that my competitors are making fun of me (company). While my product has been banned, government is not taking any action against any manufacturer of similar products… I am being singled out,” senior advocate Arvind Nigam said on behalf of the company. On 17 August, NCDRC had issued notice to Nestle on the government’s suit to which the company had to reply today. However, the company failed to reply to the notice claiming that it has not received complete documents from the government to which it had to filed its reply. Narayanan, who is five weeks into his new role as MD of Nestle India, also assured that the company is committed to engaging with the food safety regulator FSSAI on a “professional forward looking basis”. “A lot of work needs to to be done by the industry as a whole along with the regulator to define the infrastructure, protocol, safety standards, not just of noodles but standards of all processed foods,” he said. “Nestle has taken a big hit, but this is a rallying point to define standards for putting out genuinely safe products using fair principles,” he added. He called it a “golden moment” for the food processing industry as a whole to get its act together and contribute significantly to the ‘Make in India’ programme. He also said that nearly 7,200 employees of Nestle India have been engaged in alternate programmes and training and not one of them has lost his job. “We are keen to resume business,” he indicated. Five factories presently remain shut. Besides, over 15,000 spice farmers, four lakh wheat farmers, 38 distribution centres, hundreds of distributors, suppliers, vendors, retailers and hawkers are impacted by the ban on Maggi noodles, he pointed out. PTI