Feast for Thought

Read an earliest post about foreign objects in food items like bread, biscuits... ? Well, yesterday it was the turn of an extremely popular brand of noodles, and the offending matter looks like fungus. Note my actions at 8 pm, (even as the family twiddled their thumbs at the table, for dinner that was supposed to have taken mom two minutes to prepare): 1. I called the customer helpline, a number in Gurgaon. An answering machine - honest! - at the call centre asked me to leave name and number. I did. 2. The system and modem were already up and running next to the 'phone, so after using a magnifying glass and a LED booklight to read the mail-id printed on the pack, I wrote to the consumer / customer service mailbox...or so I thought. 3. Not one to easily give the browser a go by, I googled the company's India website, reached the contact-us page and submitted a brief message that included batch no, date of mfg, and details of 'discovery'. 4. By then, an e-mail alert show...

Kanpur, 1999: One morning my husband was about to bite into a sandwich, and stopped in time…he stared at a black embedded object in the slice that had, well, several legs. After initial appalled reactions, we decided to call the (well-known) baker. The local telephone directory helped. We called, and were assured that utmost standards of quality were always maintained. A seasoned marketing person came pronto, collected the offending piece, deposited two crisp fresh loaves of very special milk bread, and left. Bangalore, 2001: Same brand, same product, this time a different foreign object, but just as firmly ensconced and baked to perfection. Out went a call to the Yeswantpur source, history repeated. This time a young, enthusiastic and well-coached marketing person turned up to convey the ‘we-have-high-standards-and-quality-checks’ USP. This time we said ‘no, thanks’ to the replacement loaves. Bangalore, 2004: It was the turn of a packet of sweet corn soup. My all-vegetarian family ...