Nestle cuts salt and adds iron to Maggi noodles amid push for healthier products
Nestle India Ltd, the local unit of Swiss packaged foods maker Nestle SA, is adding iron and cutting salt content in one of its most successful brands—Maggi noodles. The company is responding to a consumer and government push for healthier products, said Nestle India, which will also reduce salt content in other Maggi-branded products such as soups and seasonings.
The new, fortified Maggi masala noodles will be available over the next few weeks across the 3.5 million retail outlets in India where Nestle products are sold, and the non-fortified versions will be phased out. Pricing will not change.
The plan to reduce salt content in Maggi noodles is part of Nestle’s global strategy to cut sodium, saturated fats and sugar in its products. By 2020, Nestle wants to reduce salt content across all Maggi-branded prodnoodles, ucts by 10%, and add more vegetables and other nutrient-rich ingredients. The firm claims it has brought down sodium content in its Maggi products by 32.7% in the past 10 years.
“It is a step where we want to introduce products which offer healthier choices to our consumers as we simplify our ingredients and encourage home cooking. At the forefront of this drive is the commitment to reshape Maggi brand’s products to emphasise the use of familiar and common ingredients that people know and use for home cooking, from their own kitchen cupboard,” Nestle India chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan said in a statement.
In India, Nestle is starting by adding iron to Maggi masala aiming to provide about 15% of the recommended dietary allowance for consumers.
Nestle claims to sell about 2.5 billion portions of Maggi masala noodles, its single largest revenue earner in India, every year.
“Given the scale and popularity, Maggi masala noodles offer a powerful platform to address iron deficiency through the ironfortified variant,” the company statement said.
Nestle’s move comes within four months of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) setting up a scientific panel on “food fortification and nutrition”. The panel will come up with guidelines to fight malnutrition in the country by making supply of fortified food mandatory for governmentbacked schemes such as mid-day meals at schools, integrated child development services and the public distribution system.
FSSAI will implement these guidelines in collaboration with the Union ministry of women and child development.