After months, Maggi got the go-ahead by the authorities and barely we had raised a spoonful to our mouths that we heard about the launch of Baba Ramdev’s instant atta noodles. Maggi had competition on the horizon! But the Patanjali instant noodles launched by Baba Ramdev have got into a “soup” the moment they were launched. Reports say that the noodles do not have the compulsory product approvals i.e it lacks the approval stamp of the FSSAI. Will the sale be banned?
Baba Ramdev in contest with Maggi, launched his own brand of instant noodles. Reports say that the Yoga teacher has not got the essential approval from the Food Safety and Regulatory Authority of India. To make matter worse the officials confirm that the Patanjali Atta Noodles packets have an “FSSAI licence number” scribbled on it, whereas the noodles have obtained no approval of the authorities. This fact was confirmed by the officials of the FSSAI.
FSSAI chairperson and CEO, Ashish Bahuguna, gave a statement to the dailies asserting “Patanjali Atta Noodles has not got product approvals from us. The matter has been brought to our notice. We are pursuing it.”
After Maggi had been banned and the Noodle business started to flail in the last few months, there were plenty of competitors who had stepped into the instant noodle market to take over. One of the major competitors was Baba Ramdev’s Patajali Atta Noodles.
The Patanjali noodles packets flaunt “FSSAI licence number 10014012000266”, and getting to know about this, Bahuguna instantly stated : “How can license be given for a product that has not been approved? Licenses are issued by the state government to manufacture certain items. But approvals for (non-standardized) products are given by us. That approval was not taken. I do not know how the license was procured.”
Hearing about this controversy, and insisting that they had followed all the rules and regulations laid down by the FSSAI and had not encouraged any violations, S K Tijarawala, Baba Ramdev’s spokesman said “I am not aware of the technical details and currently there is nobody available who can give me the clarifications. I can revert tomorrow.” FSSAI is the only authority that can grant approval to the Noodles as they can be categorized as a non-standardized product.
FSSAI sources said that noodles are not a standardized product, which means FSSAI is the sole authority mandated to grant product approval. Surprisingly reports say that Patanjali Ayurved, still has to apply for this permission and considering the controversy a senior official at the FSSAI has announced “I do not know what is there in the noodles.”
Bahuguna has also stated that Patanjali may be having the permission for other products but they do not have the approval for noodles. He confirmed that only 10 companies have obtained the authorization for instant noodles.
