Most of the grocery shops in Howrah have now emptied their racks of Maggi noodles – buyers seem to have turned their faces away from the country’s most popular instant noodles. As Nestle India has asked distributors nationwide to recall all variety of Maggi noodles, which supposedly contains excessive amount of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG), Howrah is no exception.
The distributors here have taken back most of the Maggi packets from shop owners. However, a few packets can still be seen in some shops where distributors have not reached yet. While Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) has clearly said they would not go for any drive against Maggi and would wait for the state government’s order to take necessary steps, concerned parents, however, are already looking for new alternatives. “The HMC has not implemented any order. We will abide by what the state government tells us,” said Mayor Rathin Chakraborty.
While Maggi has been made offlimits to children by parents, the latter are facing a tough time trying to replace the instant noodles from school tiffins and quick snacks for their wards. Meet Falguni Laha, mother of a 12-year-old daughter, who has managed to convince her child that she can still make her tasty tiffin, without Maggi. “My daughter Anwesha used to take Maggi for tiffin at school, have it in the morning and evening, and was one among the numerous Maggi-loving children. We were really scared when the news broke out,” said Laha. “But I didn't have to convince her a lot to give up Maggi as she regularly follows the news,” said Laha, a resident of Shibpur’s Nabagopal Mukherjee Lane.
Anwesha, a Class VII student of Bidya Bharati Girls’ High School, agreed. ‘Why should I eat Maggi, if it is contaminated?” she asked. However, worried father Chiranjit Ganguli found an alternative to Maggi in the normal chow mein. “My 10-year-old daughter was a true Maggi-freak. She had tasted most of the flavours and wasn’t ready to forget Maggi so easily. Now her mother cooks her chow mein for tiffin,” he said.
Shop owners and distributors confirmed that around 90 per cent of the product has been recalled from the Howrah market, only 10 per cent remains which would be taken back by Friday. “The distributors have taken back around 9,000 packs of Maggi from our shop. But still some packets remain which they are supposed to take back this week,” said an employee of a wholesale shop.
“I used to sell at least 300 packets on a daily basis, which has now come down to zero. Media coverage has done huge damage to Maggi,” said Hari Charan Shaw, a shop owner at Kali Babur Bazar. “We are returning those packets to the company piecemeal. As per my knowledge, the company will burn the unused packets,” a distributor said.
And its not just Maggi. The instant noodles market has taken a hit on the whole. Bibhutibhushan Jana, a grocery shop-owner, observed, there was a dip in sales of most of the noodle brands. Shop owner Prakash Das nodded with agreement. “I used to sell 25 dozen normal chow mein packets each for Rs 12. Now it has increased to almost 50 dozen a day. It seems pasta, chow mein and soup will take the market of instant noodles,” Das said.
The shop owners observed, most of the Maggi buyers were parents of small children, but adults such as office goers, school and college students, salesmen hitting the road everyday were also noodle-freaks. It’s a pocket-friendly food item that is tasty as well. “It would be interesting to see if roadside chow mein stalls, pasta or soup can replace Maggi,” said Rabin Manna, another shop owner.
However, there are some who still swear by Maggi. Ronaque Parveen, mother of 15-year-old Zeeshan and 20-year-old Shadab, residents of Howrah’s Roshan Guldar Lane could be Nestle’s face for a fight back. “I have never heard that children have died of eating Maggi. My children have grown up eating this noodle and am really upset about not getting it in the market,” Parveen said. Ronaque has company in photographer Sourish Meryson who gives two reasons for not quitting Maggi. “It takes just five minutes to cook and its tasty at any point of time,” he said. Sourish’s Facebook wall has a picture of a plateful of Maggi. “I don’t care. Maggi is still my favourite,” he says.
