Nagpur: Several food items came under scanner in India after the ban on Nestle’s popular Maggi noodles. The ban on Maggi was the beginning of more products being reported for serving adulterated food. The latest to join the list is popular mango drink Maaza. A soldier ant was found in Coca Cola’s Maaza drink in orange city Nagpur in Maharashtra. Maaza is a Coca-Cola fruit based drink brand marketed in Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, the most popular drink in the mango variety.
Nagpur resident Chandu Latkar bought the drink from a shop at Ganesh Peth bus stand on July 14. The drink aimed to quench his thirst and beat the heat did not taste right. A closer look inside the bottle left Latkar speechless. A soldier ant was inside the Maaza bottle. Initially, Latkar asked the shopkeeper about this but the shopkeeper had no satisfactory answer as the sealed bottles were delivered by the company only.
Latkar, he approached the FDA and registered his complaint. “I found soldier ant in the Maaza bottle; batch number 761, manufactured on May 30, 2015,” he said in his complaint. The FDA assured to investigate the matter thoroughly.
The incidents of worms, insects being found under packaged food is not new. Earlier, worms were found in the Nestle Cerelac baby food packet in Coimbatore. Insects were found in a Glucon-D packet in Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, the pictures showing black substance in the Frooti tetra pack went viral on popular messaging app WhatsApp. With many food products already facing test, this news may disappoint Maaza fans. These incidents also expose how serious the companies are about quality checks. Will Maaza also face stringent action remains to be see.
