Now, ITC's Yippee under food safety scanner

DEHRADUN: After the unexpected debacle of Maggi in the country and a 90-day ban in Uttarakhand, misfortune has knocked on the doors of ITC's Yippee noodles. The food safety and security authority of Uttarakhand has issued a notice seeking clarifications about the nutritional and other claims on the product's label.

Spelling trouble for the Kolkata-based company, the food safety officer has asked ITC to respond to the notice within 15 days from its date of receipt. The notice was issued on Friday.

The step was initiated after samples of Yippee (its Magic Masala and Classic Masala versions) sold under the Sunfeast brand were lifted from a store in Kaliyar in Haridwar to send to the state food testing lab based in Rudrapur.

"The notice directs ITC to provide nutrients profile and lab reports to back their claims of energy, protein, carbohydrate, sugar and calcium," said Dilip Jain, the food safety officer who carried out the operation. The label of Sunfeast Yippee noodles (Classic Masala) says 'Nutritional information per 100 g is 465 Kcal., protein 8.8, carbohydrate 63 and others.'

"The company has been asked about the vegetarian certificates of these flavour enhancers," Jain said.

The notice asks the company to provide accredited lab reports, which was approved by FSSAI, of the shelf life analysis of both the noodle varieties. The printing on the pack claims the product to be best before nine months from the date of manufacture.

Recently, according to reports, ITC had removed the 'no added MSG' claim from Yippee noodles packs. "ITC is voluntarily taking steps to remove the phrase from labels in its new batches. Consumers should ignore this on the current packaging. ITC would like to once again assure consumers that MSG is not added to Sunfeast Yippee Noodles," ITC said in a statement as per reports.

In case the company fails to provide a reply to the department's queries within the given time, the information printed on the packs of both the noodles will be considered false and misleading, punishable offences under the FSSAI Act 2006. ITC has a manufacturing unit at State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd, Haridwar.

On June 3, the state government banned the sale of Maggi for three months after a sample of the popular instant noodles, taken earlier this year from Pauri district, failed laboratory tests.