Does Baba Ramdev Have A Healthier Alternative For Maggi?

Unless you were living under a rock, you would’ve heard of the Patanjali Maggi hoopla. And how it was just a photoshopped image doing the rounds. Well, maybe it was a subtle hint of what was to hit the markets a few months later. You guessed it. Baba Ramdev is going to launch his own version of instant noodles. Behold, the Patanjali Atta Noodles!

Although in all fairness, apart from the morphed picture, Ramdev did announce some time back that he’d be launching his own brand of noodles pretty soon.

According to Baba Ramdev, These noodles wouldn’t be made with maida (flour) but with a healthier alternative. Also that it won’t be harmful to and “addictive”. Wait, you mean we can’t snort its tastemaker? Damn.

Say Hello To Health

On Thursday, baba Ramdev launched ‘Atta Noodles’ his new brand of noodles that are made with wheat. At the launch of the noodles in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, Ramdev said the noodles “will not have any maida (flour) and they will provide a healthy alternative to Maggi for children.”

The yoga guru said the noodles were completely safe and healthy for consumption, and he was promoting Swadeshi products because they were natural and caused no harm.

Future Missions

The Patanjali group owned by Ramdev produces and markets various ayurvedic products. It had a turnover of INR 1200crores in 2014 and a projected turnover of INR 2000crores (approximately $300M) in 2015.

Another product Patanjali plans to introduce sometime soon is Powervita, a health drink for children that will compete with brands like Complan, Horlicks and Bournvita.

Patanjali Is Not Alone

The Punjab government has also decided to manufacture instant noodles and proposed to launch them by September-end. This will make them the first state government to do so. These will be available in two vegetarian flavours and will be manufactured at Asia’s largest marketing cooperative Markfed as Sohana Noodles. It is believed that the price of these noodles will be lower than that of other brands in the market.

Are They Healthy?

But the question that arises here is how healthy instant noodles are even when you swap ingredients? Since these are made to bear a longer shelf life, they are highly processed. They are low on nutritional content and with processed food there is always a danger of artificial colors, preservatives, additives and flavorings.

While some are eagerly waiting for the new breed of instant noodles, most long for the good old Maggi noodles and others call it yet another marketing gimmick.

The Maggi Void

India is the world’s 5th largest instant noodles market and worth approximately INR 3000crore. Of this huge chunk, Maggi Noodles sat on almost 60-65 per cent of it, and it’s been the case for a little over three decades.

The ban on Maggi was enforced when food authorities found high levels of lead and the presence of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in them. Maggi’s high market share is probably the reason why Nestle India is scrambling to get Maggi noodles back on the shelves. For now, the absence of Maggi noodles from the market presents an opportunity for other brands and individuals to come up with their own products.