New Delhi/Nagpur: While international giant Nestle might have been in a self congratulatory mode since Maggi noodles is about to get back on our supermarket shelves, you’ll be shocked to read that now live larvae was allegedly found in packet of its milk powder in Tamil Nadu.
According to a report in the New Indian Express, a sample of Nestle’s milk powder has been declared unsafe by Tamil Nadu’s Food Safety Wing, after a taxi driver’s 18-month old allegedly found live larvae and developed skin allergy after consuming Nestle’s NAN PRO 3 milk for toddlers.
This is what IE reported -‘ K Prem Ananth, a taxi driver from Puliakulam, Coimbatore, had purchased a 380 gm Nestle NAN PRO 3 carton, a milk powder for toddlers.
Prem Ananth had already fed one of his 18-month-old children with the baby formula and was mixing a separate batch for the other twin when he stumbled upon live larvae in the milk powder.
Two days later, the infant, who was fed the milk powder, allegedly developed skin allergy, and was admitted in a private paediatric care centre at Race Course here.
Following this, Prem Ananth registered a voice complaint with the Nestle customer support. The company then sent local area manager G Krishnaperumal to investigate the matter. Krishnaperumal offered to replace the product, which Prem Ananth refused. The representative then promised to test the powder at the company’s certified laboratory. Prem Ananth rejected this as well as he was not convinced that Nestle would conduct an impartial probe into the issue.
Meanwhile, a report from analysts at the Food Analysis Laboratory, Coimbatore, confirmed that the 380 gm sample contained 28 live larvae and 22 Sitophilus oryzae (rice weevils).
On April 29, Prem approached the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing) in Coimbatore, and gave the samples for testing.’
Chennai food analyst R Thenmozhi, who examined the product, said in her report that “the sample of MILK POWDER — Nestle NAN PRO 3 submitted for analysis does not conform to standards specified under Regulation 2.1.9(5) of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations as it contains live insects.”
R Kathiravan, designated food safety officer, confirmed the veracity of the report, but said the results cannot be used to classify all Nestle products as unsafe.
Maggi two minute noodles now, anyone?
Prem Ananth has now filed a complaint with the Food Safety Cell in Coimbatore. When Express contacted the Nestle Head Office in Gurgaon, Haryana, public relations officer M Himanshu promised to look into the report, which has been sent by e-mail to its office. The company is yet to respond.
