Nestle has insisted there is "no quality issue" related to its decision to stop selling milk in pouches in Punjab in India.
The company decided to stop selling milk in pouches in the region because it was "not economically viable" to produce such small volumes. "We have been supplying very small quantity of milk especially packed in pouches only for Moga and neighbouring towns. However, processing such small quantities of high quality milk is not economically viable and we have decided to discontinue this," a spokesperson for the company told just-food.
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The Nestle spokesperson stressed its move to stop selling milk pouches in the Punjab was unrelated to any quality or safety issues. "We have worked extensively with the milk farmers to ensure that the milk that they provide to us is of very high quality and we will use it to manufacture products that add greater value to all our stakeholders including the local community. This has nothing to do with any quality issues and company accepts milk after doing extensive quality checks."
Nestle continues to supply milk in the area in other pack formats, the spokesperson confirmed.
The news comes as reports in India suggest milk – along with edible oils and packaged drinking water – have been put on a national alert by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the national regulator. The FSSAI asked state food safety regulators to "increase surveillance activities", with a focus on these product areas, this week.
The regulator initiated a crackdown on packaged foods after it claimed to have found elevated levels of lead and the undeclared ingredient MSG in Nestle's Maggi noodles brand. Nestle denies its Maggi noodles contained levels of lead higher than those allowed by regulations and insists it does not add MSG to its noodles on sale in India.
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