FSSAI is now more pro-active, industry-centred with fast responses: Nestle

FSSAI credibility increased post-Maggi crisis, Nestle India relaunched Maggi, and FSSAI evolved as an industry-centred regulator.

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.

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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% 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.