Ban hits hard Maggi sale points on Mussoorie road

MUSOOORIE: A number of Maggi sale points that had mushroomed on the sides of the MussoorieDehradun Road and were serving noodles to tourists have been hit hard by the recent ban on the Nestle product

Updated At : 05:48 AM Jun 09, 2015 IST

<p>A Maggi noodles point on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road wears a deserted look. A Tribune photo</p>

Tribune News Service

Musooorie, June 8

A number of Maggi sale points that had mushroomed on the sides of the Mussoorie-Dehradun Road and were serving noodles to tourists have been hit hard by the recent ban on the Nestle product.

Maggi noodles, a product of Nestle, a multinational company, was very popular among the tourists heading towards Mussoorie from Dehradun. The tourists used to savour Maggi noodles at these points during their brief stopover as it could be cooked and served instantly while they were on their way to Mussoorie.

However, after a controversy over Maggi noodles arose in the country, the tourists developed distaste for the product and instead of savouring the dish, many of them have preferred to move on to Mussoorie, resulting in economic loss to the business community running these Maggi Points on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road, for the past two days.

Jitendar, a Maggi sale point owner on the Mussoorie-Dehradun Road, said a few days back, he was serving around 90-100 packets to the tourists but not anymore. The tourists are refraining from consuming Maggi noodles after the reports of excessive monosodium glutamate and lead content forced them to remove these from shelves altogether, said Jitendar.

Another Maggi sale point owner Ranvir said earlier, such points use to bustle with activity, but they now have to persuade people to go for other options such as Macaroni and pasta, which are not finding many takers here.

The children who were used to eating Maggi noodles do not have the same liking for the other products, which has resulted in dipping business.

Shoorvir, another Maggi sale point owner, said they had stored several thousands of packets of Maggi noodles in the wake of the peak season, but are left with the option of either returning the entire lot of the product to the company or incur loss.

He said the controversy should end sooner than later, otherwise the Maggi sale point owners will have to bear immense loss due to the row over the product in the country.

Tourists, when asked, said that till the picture becomes clear on the controversy, they will desist from eating Maggi noodles anywhere in the country. The business at these points on the Mussoorie-Dehradun Road was reportedly running into several crores and has taken a beating due to the recent controversy.