When it comes to generic drugs from India, USFDA has been very active.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is currently evaluating the Maggie noodles controversy in India, and determining if it’s necessary to go forward with independent tests to determine if the product is safe to be sold in stores in the state.
The American Bazaar reached out to the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), the CDPH and the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) – the latter is an international, non-profit organization that is in the forefront of streamlining and simplifying regulations – for action, or proposals, if any, they intend to take to determine the safety of Maggi noodles, manufactured by Nestle, and if it’s fit to be stocked as a grocery item in stores in the United States.
It’s evident from the responses received so far that although Maggi noodles may have been banned in several states in India, and manufacturer Nestle thereafter pulled the product off stores in the country, it’s yet to raise alarm in the US. Action may yet come, but it’s markedly slow in coming.
Lauren E. Sucher, Press Officer, USFDA, responded to the Bazaar saying she is still awaiting answers to the queries from her bosses, including if the USFDA would go ahead with tests on Maggi noodles to determine if it should be banned or not.
Randy Young, Program Coordinator, AFDO, responded saying, “Unfortunately, no one in our association can assist with your request.”
Ronald Owens, an Information Officer at the CDPH, in an e-mailed response to queries, informed the agency has not conducted tests on Maggi Noodles as yet and does not have any information on the product, at present. In fact, he became aware of the issue when the Bazaar reached out to him.
On the question of any food products from India been recalled or banned in the last 10 years, Owens responded: “CDPH monitors and oversees hundreds of food recalls each year. Some of these recalls involve food products imported from other countries. CDPH works directly with the firm in the United States that is responsible for importing the adulterated or misbranded product. CDPH does not maintain statistics regarding the country of origin for recalled manufactured foods.”
Interestingly, when it comes to the question of permissible levels of MSG (monosodium glutamate) and lead – which were found to be above limit in the Maggi noodles in tests done in several states in India – the USFDA classifies MSG as a “food additive Generally Recognized as Safe when used as a salt substitute in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices. No specific level is identified.”
Owens informed that when it comes to lead, “there is no specific established level for lead in these types of food products (dry packaged noodles). When looking at potential lead contamination of a food product, CDPH typically calculates a lead exposure level and determines if it rises to a level of concern.”
According to the USFDA, the permissible levels for lead in candy is at 0.1 ppm. The amount of lead found in Maggi noodles samples tested in India was found to be 17.2 ppm, more than seven times the permissible levels.
On being asked if the CDPH intends to take action against Maggi based on tests done by India-based local FDA units there, or instead conduct independent tests here in California, Owens said, “CDPH is currently evaluating the issue.”
He added: “If food products are determined to be adulterated (impure or unsafe), CDPH will oversee a recall with the responsible firm to ensure adulterated products are removed from the marketplace and consumers’ homes.”
One can only surmise from statistics available on the USFDA website that the government agency has come down hard on generic drugs from India, but has surprisingly been rather soft on imported Indian ethnic food products, which finds its way to mostly Indian and South Asian grocery stores and its online retail businesses, across the country. The most prominent of those stores, Patel Brothers, which recently opened its 50th store in the US, in New Jersey, stocks Maggi Noodles.
It’s surprising that more Indian food products sold in the US have not come under inspection by the USFDA, since nearly one quarter of the spices, oils and food colorings used in the United States comes from India. In recent years, India has been the second largest drug exporter and the seventh largest food exporter to the U.S.
A prominent USFDA action in India concerning a popular food product came about in March 2012, when the agency, through its Mumbai office investigators, found an Indian manufacturer producing tuna to be the culprit of a Salmonella outbreak sweeping the US. The Indian government pulled the manufacturer’s license.
When it comes to drugs, however, it’s a different ballgame altogether – and not a surprise given the lobbying power of the industry here – as many more Indian companies have felt the heat from the USFDA.
This year itself, in March, the USFDA banned shipment of medicines made by Aarti Drugs, after an inspection of its manufacturing plants last August. In January, Ranbaxy’s Toansa plant was banned from producing and distributing drugs for the US market.
Last year, Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., India’s largest drug maker by market value, saw its facility in Gujarat put on the FDA’s “red list”, meaning products can be detained without physical examination.
Since January 2013, the FDA has added more than 20 Indian drug facilities to its import alert list, including two belonging to Mumbai-based Wockhardt Ltd. and two belonging to Ranbaxy.
When it comes to food products like Maggi noodles, the fact is also that it’s small change compared to the hundreds of food recalls the US does annually. It’s not considered an immediate health hazard.
However, Maggi Noodles has primarily been targeted at children, through advertisements in India. New Indian immigrants in the US no doubt prefer Maggi to cooking pasta, which even if spiced up Indian-style, is a more time consuming process too.
The USFDA needs to take into cognizance the long-term health hazards from tainted products like Maggi, which is one of the lowest priced items in an Indian grocery store.
Excess levels of lead is most damaging when children are six years and younger. It could lead to learning disabilities resulting in low IQ, attention deficit disorder, speech and language impairment, decreased bone growth, and kidney damage, among other ailments.
Maggie noodles itself is a money churner for Nestle, and sales in the US indicate that a vast number of people consume it.
According to Zauba.com, in the last two years, India has exported 22,94,057 units of Maggi noodles worth $1,68,33,520. The US, Canada and the UK the list of top 10 importers of Maggi noodles. USA alone imports 35% of India’s overall exports.
In the first five months of 2014, Nestle India exported 1,84,230 units of Indian flavors to the US and that figure rose to 2,11,901, in the corresponding period, in 2015.
This past weekend, this writer walked into a Patel Brothers store in Norwalk, Connecticut, and found Maggi noodles stocked in heaps and piles on shelves, ironically placed underneath rows of fresh vegetables.
A store employee laughed off the ban, saying in Hindi, “Ban to udhar hain, yahaan to nahin hain.” (Ban is in India, not here in the US).
Asked if people still buy Maggi noodles, he said with a laugh, “‘Hahn, log to abhi bhi khareegte hain. Ban se kya asar padhta hain.” (Yes, people still buy it. Who cares about the ban).
(Sujeet Rajan is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Bazaar)
1 Comment
I am quite appalled by the USFDA. I even wrote to them asking why they have not done anything when pretty much every country in the world is looking into the matter. Every country from UK, Germany, Canada, Singapore to even Kenya is looking into it. Also, the US is the largest importer of Maggi among what is exported from India. US should have been the first country to look into the Maggi issue. I did not as much as get a reply – not even a form letter from them – NOTHING.
It seems like they are just a corrupt agency looking to make money and not interested in protecting the people.
I am also very surprised that there is no press about how badly the USFDA is conducting itself – as if they are owned by Nestle.