The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) may soon issue a notice to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved on the atta noodles that it launched this week, allegedly without the pre-requisite approvals.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the main confusion seems to be the fact that Patanjali has cited its licence to manufacture pasta. However, the noodles takes three minutes to cook which entails prior cooking, which puts it under another category.
“Noodles and instant noodles are different products, even in codex (internationally accepted food standards) the standards for the two are different. Instant noodles is pre-cooked, so it cannot be manufactured under a licence for pasta. The masala mix by itself is a non-standardised item so it requires product approval from us. There are 10 companies in the country right now which have licence to manufacture instant noodles. Neither Patanjali nor Aakash Yog are in that list,” FSSAI chairman and acting CEO Ashish Bahuguna told the newspaper.
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Atta noodles was launched on Monday with the tagline “Jhat pat pakao, aur befikr khao” (Cook quickly, and eat without worry).
In response to the FSSAI claiming that permissions were not taken, Ramdev’s spokesperson expressed a lack of awareness when it came to the product’s 'technical details', and told the media that noodles comes under the 'Pasta' category.
The product had been launched to compete with Nestle's Maggi Noodles that once again hit the shelves a week ago after its ban was lifted. The FSSAI, however, has contested the unbanning by appealing to the Supreme Court, as they feel the product is not safe yet.