New Delhi: Bhujia packaged and sold under the brand name Wai Wai are made from broken noodles collected from the factory floor, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has detected.
It has now ordered the Nepali billionaire-owned company that produces the famous Wai Wai noodles to stop manufacturing certain products, Reuters reported.
This step comes amid a nationwide crackdown against eateries, outlets and restaurants over food hygiene and quality, with popular brands such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s also facing regulatory action in recent weeks.
The action was taken against a factory operated by CG Foods India in Rajasthan. The company is part of CG Corp Global, the conglomerate led by Binod Chaudhary, Nepal’s only billionaire who is widely known as the ‘Noodle King’ for building the Wai Wai instant-noodle brand.
The FSSAI said inspectors found that the factory was “re-processing floor-collected broken noodles into bhujia without heat treatment”.
Bhujia is a popular fried Indian snack sold in small packets by numerous food companies across the country. The investigation focused on two Wai Wai-branded bhujia products.
The FSSAI also seized nearly 32,000 kg of stock from the facility and found 1,925 boxes of expired finished products. Legal proceedings had been initiated against the food business operator and samples had been collected for testing, the food regulator said.
A few days ago, Maharashtra food safety officials found expired and nearly expired products carrying altered expiry dates and nutrition labels during a raid on a warehouse in Navi Mumbai. The products were from major brands such as Nestle, Unilever, Coca Cola and Pepsico, with officials finding chemicals allegedly used to rub off dates from packaging and machines to print replacement labels, as reported by India Today.
Nearlu 5,000 cartons of consumer products were found inside four rooms of the facility. These included popular items such as Lay’s and Kurkure chips by PepsiCo, Maggi Masala Noodles by Nestle, Coca-Cola’s Thums Up and Limca cans, and Unilever’s Knorr Mushroom Soup.