Nestle has resumed production of its instant noodles product at the fourth plant, located at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand state, a move that comes after it was able to successfully re-launch Maggi Noodles in the Indian market earlier this month.
The company, which relaunched Maggi in India on 9 November, is currently manufacturing the product at three locations - Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa).
Nestle was quoted as saying by NDTV: "The commencement of production at Pantnagar will have a positive and rejuvenating economic impact across the supply chain. In past few weeks, Nestle has been in active engagement with the authorities and has provided all the documents and clarifications, before commencement of production."
The production of Maggi Noodles at its fifth facility at Tahliwal in Himachal Pradesh state is yet to commence. The company is engaged in talks with the state authorities to seek approval for the resumption of the production.
There are some Indian states which have not yet lifted ban on Maggi noodles and the company is still in the process to obtain clearances from those state authorities.
Nestle India chairman and MD Suresh Narayanan was quoted by NDTV as saying: "We have currently reached out to more than 600 towns and cities, covered about 2 lakh outlets and have sold over 4.5 crore packs. The relaunch has a refreshing impact."
Earlier month, the company announced the commencement of production of Maggi Noodles after samples of the instant noodles were given clearance by Indian authorities. The company stated on its website: "We have received test results from all three laboratories mandated by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court to test MAGGI Noodles samples. All the 90 samples, covering six variants, tested by these laboratories were cleared, with lead in much below the permissible limits."
Earlier, the company had stated that it would begin sale of Maggi Noodles only after the fresh samples are cleared by three laboratories designated by the Bombay High Court.
The decision to commence production was taken after the three labs appointed by The Bombay High Court had given clearance to the old batch samples of noodles.
Image: Maggi Noodles production begins at fourth facility. Photo: Courtesy of SOMMAI/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
