FSDA issues notice to HJ Heinz Company for worms in Complan

Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) has issued a notice to HJ Heinz Company after receiving a complaint of presence of worms in a Complan pack from a Lucknow consumer.

"We had received a complaint that there was worm in Complan of Batch No. NAT G 23033A 2/15. Evidently, it was manufactured in February 2015," said Basant Gupta, a food safety officer.

The FSDA is the same organisation which had seized Maggi, a noodle manufactured by Nestle India and revealed that it contained lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) beyond the permissible limit.

Later, several government bodies carried out a campaign across the country and forced the company to recall the noodles from the market.

On May 20, scores of packets of Maggi were recalled from the market following the discovery of high content of toxic lead and MSG in the samples lifted from Uttar Pradesh.

On June 5, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banned all variants of Maggi noodles, terming them 'unsafe and hazardous' for human consumption.

On June 8, FSSAI ordered rigorous tests for other famous noodles, pasta and macaroni with tastemaker.

The FSDA has sent notices to the Mumbai office of HJ Heinz Company and its manufacturing unit in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar through email with the hope to get a quick reply.

As per the claim of the company, Complan is "a tasty range of nutritional supplement drink with proteins, carbohydrates, 26 vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B."

Complainant Tanisha Rai Singhania had sent her domestic help to purchase Complan from a shop in Mahanagar area of Lucknow on Saturday. Upon adding a few spoons to milk and stirring it, she saw many small worms floating on the surface.

Chief food safety officer JP Singh said, "We have started collecting more samples of Complan and are sending them to laboratories for further test. In the meantime, we have sought explanation from the manufacturing company. A team would be constituted for further probe after we receive their reply."

Meanwhile, the FSDA has also come across a pain killer medicine on which the date of manufacturing is mentioned as April 2016.

Incidentally, this medicine is available at many chemist shops apparently 10 months before it was said to be manufactured.

While the consumers religiously search for manufacturing and expiry dates of medicines, the fresh revelation of the FSDA has shattered this myth.

The expiry date of the medicine is mentioned as March 2018. Drug Controller AK Mehrotra said, "The medicine named Flame is manufactured by Indore-based Vishal Pharmaceutical Company. We have asked the chemist shops to immediately withdraw it from their shelves. We have also alerted our officers across the state to recover this medicine."

In association with Mail Today Bureau