Ban only for Maggi? Despite being rejected by FSSAI, energy drinks still sold in stores across India

Despite the huge uproar over the food safety standards of Maggi noodles throughout the country, energy drinks banned by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over a month ago are still sold in stores across the nation. [caption id=“attachment_2290420” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Monster energy drink is available despite being banned by FSSAI.[/caption] According to an  Indian Express, FSSAI had ordered the immediate recall of energy drinks like Monster, Cloud9 and Tzinga in May, but cans of the drink are available across cities with most shopkeepers even willing to provide a receipt for the purchase. One of the drink’s manufacturers has said that they are in the process of recalling their product. “There are some outlets where Tzinga was previously sold through indirect distribution and we are in the process of recalling the product from those outlets. We believe 95 percent of recall is complete and only 5 percent of the stock is still left in the market, which would also be completed in next few days. We are regularly updating FSSAI on all our efforts,” Express quoted Neeraj Kakkar, founder-CEO of Hector Beverages (makers of Tzinga) as saying. However, energy drinks are not the only products still being sold despite being banned by the FSSAI. Global coffee chain Starbucks, which operates its cafes in India in partnership with Tatas, continues to sell products rejected by central food safety regulator FSSAI after risk assessment. The company on its part said it is “diligently working with FSSAI” to provide information regarding pending applications. FSSAI had rejected applications submitted by Tata Starbucks for a total of 32 products in April. Some of those products include Panna Cotta Pudding, Dark Caramel Sauce with Natural Flavour, International Chocolate Drink Mix, Chestnut Flavoured Syrup and Coffee Frappuccino Flavoured Syrup. FSSAI has also expressed displeasure that some of these products are still being produced, distributed and sold. Apart from rejecting these Starbucks products, FSSAI had last week handed over a list of 500 products rejected by it as of 30 April 2015 to the state food safety commissioners. These included Kellogg India’s ‘special K Red berries’ and Field Fresh Foods’ natural vinegar, hot sauce (proprietary food) and egg myonnaise/salad dressing variants, some of Venky’s chicken products, Ranbaxy’s Revital Capsule, Revital Senior tablets and Revital Women Tablets and also Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ new Anofer & new Xtraglo tablets. On Thursday, Hindustan Unilever Ltd recalled its range of 'Knorr' instant noodles from the market after the product had been blacklisted by FSSAI. The FSSAI banned Nestle’s Maggi, saying it was ‘unsafe and hazardous’ after tests found presence of lead and MSG above permissible limits. Nestle had also withdrawn the instant noodles brand from the market. According to an official, FSSAI has asked state food safety commissioners to inspect and evaluate all packaged foods products in the country, including even those which are not registered with the authority. (With inputs from PTI)