Destroyed Brand Maggi - without conclusive evidence - Sunil Alagh

ven as several states have banned Nestle's Maggi noodles while others are considering it, CNBC-TV18 witnessed a fierce attack by an industry veteran on the way governments have handled the issue. In an interview with CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Nigel D'Souza, former Britannia chief Sunil Alagh, who runs consulting firm SKA Advisors, termed the food testing process in the country as "disastrous". "How have Goa, Kerala and Maharashtra found it okay and only Delhi has found it wrong. Has anybody questioned it?" he said, raising one among many arguments questioning the process. Below is the verbatim transcript of Sunil Alagh's interview with CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Nigel D'souza Latha: We have seen Pepsi and Cadbury emerge from similar kind of problems, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related problems. What is your sense, how long may Maggi as a brand take to re-emerge and how costly is it or is it possible that brands may even wither away? A: I would just like to very quickly say, it is very sad in the case of Nestle that obviously the testing process in India is disastrous - you have destroyed a brand before getting any conclusive evidence and the media has also gone into all the wrong conclusions straightaway based on, ‘Oh, Maggi is bad.’ Does everybody know that there is lead in every single product that you eat whether you buy it in the market or whether you buy any packaged product. There is no single packaged product which does not have lead. That is why the government of India has put permissible limits on it. Even if you buy - where does lead come from? Nobody adds lead to a product. It is available on the ground, it comes from the groundwater, it comes from the flour, it comes from everything that is available in India and the question is that you are testing this product, are we using the right testing processes? We jump the gun in India very quickly and I am rising to the defense of Nestle only on the ground that unless proven guilty, it takes hundreds of years to build a brand, everybody in India has destroyed it in one day and that is the most unfortunate part but forget about the cost –if they were to sue the government of India and they are right, then will the government of India give them the money that they would have lost as a consequence of bad testing or are we not bothered? You have a simple thing in India where if you do a survey and say here is the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi is the most popular- everybody immediately starts asking questions: how many people did you interview, did you go all over India, did you do this, is it rural, is it urban, is it young, is it old- nobody is bothered including very single TV channel to say what are we talking about? Where are the these testing done, how come four states have found it right, one state has found it wrong, is it only one factory, is it all the factories, is it all products in India –where are we going with this? You have destroyed the brand already, now of course the poor chaps if they turn out to be right, if I was in their place I would take massive legal action against everyone. Latha: If Nestle was so sure that it has been wronged then we would have heard from Nestle. A: Nestle is absolutely sure, they have been putting the reports out every single day and no media is covering it. They are saying they have done their testing both overseas and in India and is within permissible limits. Everybody believes what we do in our labs, that is it, good night, good bye. Has anyone gone into our labs, has anyone looked at our lab assistants, they are bright guys but they are clueless in terms of how to test international products, in which case if you think Maggi Noodles is back they have got about 0.5 or 0.6 in just the noodles and the permissible level is 2.5 ppm and they have only got 0.5 and you find that the sachet inside it has got slightly higher which is around four and you apply the sachet thing to the whole product when the way you are supposed eat it is to mix it. How many labs have checked the mixed product. They have done two separate things and in the sachet it is up to 10ppm – that is the permissible limit. Who is bothered in India, we have five labs, one is Barabanki in UP, one is somewhere else. How have Goa, Kerala and Maharashtra found it okay then and only Delhi has found it wrong. Has anybody questioned it? I am furious about this. This is not just about Nestle and Maggi. Tomorrow anybody does anything in India and that is it. You finish the product for good. Wait till you actually have conclusive evidence – in America and everywhere else in the world they will test five times before they attack a brand. They will make sure because they know they can be sued for zillions of dollars. And I wish that Nestle does it if they are right. Nigel: Let us talk about a couple of past instances and what is the way back for Maggi and for Nestle. We have seen it with Pepsi… A: Yes, so I wish media also raises this case. That look what are we doing? How can five states find it right and one state find it wrong? Have they used different processes? What have they done? In a thing like this, obviously Nestle is going to come and say, if I am in their place, it is about time somebody from Nestle came on television and said, look we are absolutely right. Here is a group of people who have damaged us, you as a consumer stand protected and we guarantee you that what we are saying is right and therefore please do not stop eating it. The Delhi government has gone and banned it for 15 days. I have seen in the pharmaceutical industry, they have banned some pharmaceutical companies being made in a particular factory and they say this factory is banned. They do not say that the product which is available all over the world is banned in India regardless of where you make it. Latha: That is exactly the point. It is quite possible that different factories of Nestle have had a different mix and the problem is with some factories and not with, we do not know. A: We do not know, what I am saying is we do not know. Therefore, the army will eat it in Kerala and Maharashtra and Goa and not eat it in Delhi, is that what you are suggesting? I am furious about this because I am saying what are you trying to suggest? I would call all the lab reports. Has anybody seen a lab report? Have you seen a lab report? I have seen a few. I do not want to open my mouth on it. But it is disastrous the way they have been tested. You wait till anybody takes it to the court and Nestle should. Nobody has seen any reports. You are just going by what is being given to you. Has anybody in CNBC gone and said show me the report? Latha: If Nestle came with the same arguments and spoke to us on the channel, and this is not for want of writing to the company - innumerable times we have written, so if they came and spoke on the channel with the same vehemence and with the facts, then we are more than willing to accept what they have to say but it is just that at the moment we haven’t got anything. A: I agree with you, I wish if you asked the Delhi government or if you asked the lab reports that Nestle is saying this, you are saying this, are you sure that you are right? Have you gone the other way around? Okay Nestle hasn’t come, it is a disaster on their part not to come because in this kind of a world people have made mistakes, Coke has made mistakes, they have come out. Have you asked the question of the government that can we take a look at your report because Nestle everyday if you read the Times of India and if you read The Economic Times, they are coming out and saying they are right. Has anyone gone and asked the labs that look if Nestle is saying this, what have you got to say? Let them say they defy it, that Nestle doesn't know what it is talking about? So, I am a little upset - now of course the damage is done. Let's get on to the fact that the damage has been done, wrongly or rightly. If it has been done rightly then Nestle has to pay for it and sometimes the brand can die and sometimes it doesn’t, based on how honestly do you come across to your consumer. If they are right, now who pays for the damage? Now they will have to go and tell the people - look we have been saying for the last four days that we are right, and they are if you look at every newspaper. Nobody is believing them.

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