FSSAI is Now More Pro-Active, Industry-Centred with Fast Responses: Nestle

There has been a dramatic change in the tone and tenor of FSSAI, and the Indian food regulator has now become more pro-active and industry-centred with fast responses in the last decade, said Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan.

Moreover, with the setting of more NABL-accredited laboratories by different leaders of FSSAI, the credibility of the testing process has also increased, said Narayanan, who led Nestle India after the Maggi crisis, which unfolded almost a decade back.

In June 2015, FSSAI banned Maggi noodles for allegedly containing lead beyond permissible limits, forcing the company to withdraw the product from the market.

Industry observers opine that only after the Maggi crisis did the FSSAI come into the limelight across the country though it was established almost seven years ago, in September 2008, to lay down science-based standards for food articles and rules and regulations.

Nestle India relaunched Maggi in November 2015 after the ban was lifted and again got its pole position in the fast-growing instant noodles segment, where it still dominates with over 60 per cent market share.

Nestle has sold over six billion servings of Maggi, making India the largest market for Maggi worldwide, the company disclosed in its latest annual report earlier this year.

When asked about the evolution of FSSAI as a regulator in the last decade after the Maggi crisis, Narayanan said it "has come a very long way".

"I think a dramatic change has been in the tone and tenor with which the FSSAI deals with the industry and the speed of responses."

Narayanan also lauded the efforts of the different leadership of FSSAI in the last ten years at different stages for the setting of NABL-accreditated laboratories across the country, which helped in terms of the credibility of the testing methodology process.

"I really see FSSAI now as far more industry-centred, I would not use industry-friendly because they do not have to be industry-friendly they have to be industry-centred in terms of recommendations," said Narayanan in a media round table here.

Even earlier this year in April, FSSAI had collected pan-India samples of Nestle's Cerelac baby cereals amid a global report, claiming the company was adding higher sugar content to the product.

These allegations were contested by Nestle, which earlier this week launched a new range of 14 variants of its 50-year-old infant food brand Cerelac in India.

"I must say that as an organisation, we have very cordial, respectful relations with them. We know their primacy and respect their primacy, and I do not think we are ever in a confrontational spirit with the FSSAI. They themselves have become a lot more pro-active and industry-centred," said Narayanan.

FSSAI ban was stayed by the Bombay High Court over the petition filed by Nestle India.

Subsequently, FSSAI moved to the Supreme Court, which directed NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited CFTRI to clarify if the results of sample tests on Maggi Noodles show lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) levels to be within the permissible limits.

The results were forwarded to the Supreme Court on April 11, 2016, stating that 29 tested samples showed lead levels within permissible limits.

Later, in April 2024, the apex consumer forum body NCDRC dismissed the petition filed by the government, seeking damages of Rs 640 crore from Nestle over the Maggi issues.

National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) had dismissed the two petitions filed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, seeking compensation of Rs 284.55 crore and punitive damages of Rs 355.41 crore.

Nestle India is a subsidiary of Swiss multinational Nestle SA that manufactures food, beverages, chocolates, and confectioneries. India is one of the fastest-growing markets of Nestle India.