#PRFail The #2MinuteMuddle, Nestle failed to handle

#PRFail The #2MinuteMuddle, Nestle failed to handle

The Maggi #2MinuteMuddle might go down in history also as one of the biggest PR failures of these times. The absent presence of Nestle, its faceless mass, feeble shouts of weak defense and yes, a wobbly stand that was deeply superficial.

Nestle is a mega MNC that has a huge mass within its belly and outside in its market bellies too. Maggi did have an uninterrupted run for 32 years and is recognized as an era. But sadly, it has landed in a soup that now has become a muddle. Almost all of us including yours truly have savoured Maggis’ in times of distress, over-work, enjoyment and sheer inability to find or cook food.

EPIC LIES

The epic fail story began on 10 March 2014, when UP Food Safety Officer V.K. Pandey collected samples of Maggi noodles in little-known Barabanki. And Nestle has been in the loop and even filed an appeal against the orders of FSSAI last year. The official Nestle PR machinery first slept for more than a year and then came up with a lie that FSSAI is mentioning a product that has already expired in Nov 2014. FSSAI all the time was talking of the product that was picked in Mar 2014.

Their next claim was that Lead is present in most natural foods and even air. Funnily, Nestle also claimed that lead could permeate into processed food due to the soil conditions (sic!). Nestle should know that USA allows only 0.01 ppm of lead in processed food and India already allows 2.5 ppm to compensate for environmental and soil conditions. And food is processed to minimize risk elements and bring in health factors. To take such a stand, is laughable.

Same goes for their claim that FSSAI had tested for MSG through erroneous test methods. Sad, what was Nestle doing since 14 months? To wake-up after the row and claim that they were sending samples for testing to independent labs. And where are the reports now?  

ARROGANCE

The defense was surprising and left millions lose faith in one of their most-trusted brands. There was enough time to make amends, but Nestle’s big mass hierarchy arrogantly chose to pick up a fight without any scientific backing.

The sloth and properly ridiculous response was led by a faceless Nestle for whom the powers-to-be sitting in Europe never could decide that it needs a face to defend issues and somebody has to own it up. And they kept coming up with responses that looked like they were challenging FSSAI yet supporting evidence was their own reports and not the Central Government labs’.

Nestle in the past has recalled many products due to non-compliance in USA, Europe, Canada, Germany, Singapore and yes, early this week Nestle USA announced that it is removing artificial flavours from its frozen pizzas/snacks and reducing sodium in 250 products by 10%. The balance between need and greed is required of this arrogant MNC now. India is not a banana republic. Indian consumerism is coming of age and we are witnessing the first instance.

The party is over for Maggi. And Nestle has to stop looking like a wise fool that is shrewdly dumb. We are a nation of Maggi lovers and we do look forward to Maggi in a new Avatar that doesn't  treat us like third-rate citizens of the world.

IS PUNJAB DYING?

IS PUNJAB DYING?

Looks like Punjab is the next Drug, Cancer & Impotency Capital.

It is a Hobson’s choice for the country’s wheat bowl, leonine wall and the land of prosperity & plenty. Straighten-up or perish!

The vortex of Alcohol, Drugs, Illiteracy and eroded social values has further led Punjab to a cancer and Impotency capital. There is no end to keeping on discussions on the various ‘psycho-socio-medical’ problems of Punjab. The time has come, to act to a plan that provides succour to this doomed state that has already lost one generation to Terrorism/Police excesses and the next generation to Drugs.

 A small excursion into available facts throws light on what ails the state. 13,200 odd Primary Schools run under the state government (only 3400 were added in the last 36 years). This is a far cry from the glorious past. Till 1850 as documented by Dr GW Lietner, renowned British Historian; from Lahore to Panipat, every Gurdwara, Mosque, Temple and Dharamshala carried a school of sorts for basic education.And he called Punjab “the most educated place in India”. Sad to say, the state that was number one in literacy rankings till 1970 has now dropped to a poor 21st rank. Coupled with a 48% dropout, drop in students enrollment in Govt. Schools from 20.13 lakhs in 1979 to 13.10 lakhs in 2014; the situation seems spiralling towards a dark end.

Whew! What ails this, once fortress of the country? The spiraling illiteracy coupled with a myriad of social, religious issues, alcohol promotion by the state resulted in the youth riddled with drugs. Further to this, females too falling for drugs meant that recently the youngest documented drug addict was found in Khanna to be a 2-yr old baby. Gleefully, the locals called it “Smack Baby” and he was diagnosed when he was being weaned away from the mother’s milk. As you guessed, she was a smack addict. Drug addicts in Punjab now are graduating towards Poly-Drugs, which are available in plenty and cheap. Highest growth in liquor consumption has happened in Punjab too. And Punjabis are drinking away to oblivion, it seems.And to promote more sales, the State government recently reduce the price of country-made liquor by Rs. 20 per bottle. And you will be shocked to know that the highest potency of 75 percent alcohol content has been introduced here. The state is going numb!

Marriages now are taking place amongst drug addicts and unfortunately there are numerous cases of deformed children, developmental problems, such as cerebral palsy, seizure disorder, and mental retardation. There is a serious issue looming at large with these oncoming midnight’s children. Only time will tell whether they adhere to societal norms or become a problem for the society.

Shockingly, Punjab's bowels are parched and intestines drying up! Rampant abuse and rape of the agrarian lands by chemical-obsessed farmers; with pesticides, overdrawing and high usage of water meant that the water table is poisoned and we see one of the highest cancer rates in Punjab. Villages are up-for-sale due to waterlessness. A severe water scarcity and contamination crisis is on cards for Harkishanpura (Dist. Bathinda), Mandi Khurd (Dist. Bathinda), Mal Singh Wala (Dist. Mansa), Teja Rohella (Dist. Ferozepur), Dona Nanka (Dist. Ferozepur), Mirzapur Sandharsi (Dist. Patiala) and hordes of other lesser known ones. I do not feel that the powers to be have any solutions to multiple environmental toxicity, drying-up of upper aquifers, contamination of water table, destroyed river eco-systems, depleting aquatic life, ‘almost dead’ biodiversity, reduced crop diversity, decaying immune capacity, early ageing and obviously Cancer etc.The Punjabi and his animals too, of today are highly dependent on Medicines. Due to the poisonous water table, a majority of animals have become sterile and unproductive with reduced milk output, horses going sterile and hens unable to lay eggs properly. Sample - 180 students enrolled at the Government Primary School, Dona Nanka, in the border district of Ferozepur at least 110 are physically unfit.

Now Punjab is spiralling downwards on the economic front too. From being number 1 in per capita income till 1990 it has slid to position 12, other than being the slowest growing economy amongst big states and the largest borrower in the last five-year plan. 

It is sad to see the fortress of India crumbling to dust. The need of the hour is Education and Awareness for the coming generation. The responsibility falls on the community itself and it is only organisations like The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib or to some extent Chief Khalsa Diwan and SGPC; that have invested in creating much-needed Educational institutions. Kalgidhar Trust has in just 29 years managed to build around 129 schools and two Universities and seeks to impart value-based education through 500 schools in another decade. This is helping cocoon the young kids from drugs and alcohol.

The community has to wake-up to the reality and invest its precious resources wisely. But time is running out and immediate intervention is required. Punjab has rebounded in the past and it cannot let us down this time too. What it needs is a strong community-driven push instead of simply waiting for governments to move into action!

Munna Bhai FaSSAI – Elephant in the hands of Blind Men

Munna Bhai FaSSAI – Elephant in the hands of Blind Men

Food Safety of Indian Street Food is of utmost concern yet FSSAI the regulators have ignored this and chose to persecute Imported Food from developed countries.

The Old Delhi neighborhood is specked with thousands of small stalls. In a corner, Rahul churns out sizzling jalebis, on a black sooty pan, in which he keeps on adding more vanaspati with sparky droplets of sweat sizzling in the pan. Kaka ji beckons you with his grimy Chicken Biryani under the pipal tree, obviously garnishing the fare with bird droppings. Fighting for space is Ajay Rehriwala, with his Chawal Rajma that carries instances of Delhi’s pollution, dust and weather. Seekh Kababs marinated with whatnots and black dust, hang in Delhi’s wild west. In India, traditional home-grown delicacies are served everywhere from 5-Star hotels to roadside stalls. Millions of us survive on small street carts dishing out cheap meals. In the midst of this cacophony, Food Safety - FSSAI was created to sniff into everything that you eat. To improve food safety on farms and on our plates, FSSAI was given the mandate to make eating safer. And is it a coincidence that trade calls it FaSSAI, hindi for trapped?

As a wide-eyed intern, I was obviously flabbergasted after digging deep into the plate. The promise, pains and the problems of the street food tradition are on full display in India. Sid Khullar, a food commentator and founder of the blog ChefAtLarge says "I don't think there's any kind of checking happening there and it's possibly one of the filthiest places to eat at. Street food would go down a lot easier, if there were more stringent checks of quality and hygiene to make sure it's safe to eat.” FSSAI had plans to do to just that but sadly they are driving down a different highway altogether.

Every school-child knows about the adulteration in milk, mustard oil, pulses, paneer, Desi Ghee, Haldi, Spices, etc. but somehow all that Munna Bhai FaSSAI does, is to turn a blind eye to this all. I almost puked when a Maharaj (cook) at my friend’s place told me that GolGappa sellers spike the Khatta Paani with a capful of Toilet cleaning Acid. eeeks! 

Savvy Soumya Misra, a specialist in food safety at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi says "In India you take the Indian consumer for granted, but you go out of your way to ensure that whatever you're exporting is absolutely world class. So it has to be understood, that whatever Indians are consuming also should be good standard food and not just any food."

Roaming around, meeting people from trade and industry, I realized that FSSAI is like a joke imposed on us. A visit to Yojana Bhawan that houses the Health Ministry, gives you a picture of the intent and thought of the people behind Food Safety. Arun Pandey, runs a Chholey Kulche stall on his rickety thela with a large monstrous brass pot carrying his daily inventory, wrapped in a red lungi cloth. The Kulchas come out of a plastic sheet and he heats them on an inverted tawa marinated with the dust & flies again. The Babu from the Health Ministry nonchalantly chomps off his chickpea lunch, and growls at Ajay with his mouthful for a piece of hari mirch laden with Argemone oil. Obviously, I got the message, loud and clear at this point. Munna Bhai FaSSAI is just taking us for a ride.

A call to Food Safety did not materialize since Madam ji was busy. On enquiring further I realized that Madam ji, Dr Sandhya Kabra, ex-NACO was a ferocious lady with frizzled hair who is known in the department as the one who shoots off her mouth. She has been the draconian face of FSSAI for quite some time now and has been reprimanded by the Delhi High Court recently. A producer of namkeen on conditions of anonymity says “you have to talk to madam ji once, to know what FSSAI is all about. She is like a terrorist in the garb of a woman and can out-shout everybody in every meeting with fistfuls of expletives thrown in.” She is ably supported by a Dr Pandian, who is a veterinary medical professional (sic). Imagine, the country’s Food Safety for humans, being decided by a veterinarian.

And finally when I prepare to submit this piece, I read in today’s Times of India about Wines, Chocolates, Cheese, Olives, Canola oil and Apples being stopped on some pretext or other by Munna Bhai. Maybe FaSSAI should know that imported food products undergo stringest tests and scrutiny in one of the best factories across the world. At the breakfast table, I silently ate my favourite Washington Apple, the crunchiest bread pakoras fried in Canola oil and threw in a big chunk of dark chocolate in my mouth, thinking about life without them. I rushed to office to file my story, “Kal ho naa ho!” 

~Simar Preet Singh Kohli

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