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Now, consumers junk Centre for Science and Environment report-Ratna Bhushan & Sarah Jacob

Fast-food chains McDonald's and KFC, and packaged food brands like Lay's chips and Maggi noodles reported normal sales this weekend, despite a study on Friday alleging high levels of trans-fat, sugar and salts in their food on Friday.

Analysts say it is natural for consumers of chips, burgers and noodles to ignore Centre for Science and Environment's warning because they know what they are getting into when they consume chips and fast food.

"The perception is that these food are junk anyway. If they want health, consumers would turn to salads," a consumer goods analyst said on condition of anonymity.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), headed by health and environment activist Sunita Narain, on Friday said most junk foods contain very high levels of trans-fat, sugar and salt, enough to cause obesity, diabetes and hypertension, and called for stricter regulations.

But the new study apparently failed to have the same impact as its findings of high levels of pesticides in colas in 2003 and again in 2006 that dented sales of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo during 2004-06. "The incidence of pesticides is considered unsafe as the consumer did not know the product contained it," the analyst quoted earlier said.

Store managers of McDonalds' in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore and Kolkata and a manager of KFC told ET that their outlets did not report any drop in footfalls over the weekend and on Monday afternoon.

Executives of the country's top two organised retailers, Future Group and Reliance Retail, said they did not witness any drop in potato chips and instant noodles sales over the weekend.

"We haven't seen any significant changes in buying patterns of these products," Devendra Chawla, food & FMCG president at Future Group, said. But Spencer's Retail, which runs more than 200 stores across India, said sales of instant noodles and chips dropped 20-22% in the weekend as compared to usual sales.

"Since chips and instant noodles are impulse-driven categories, consumers tend to react to any negative news," Spencer's Retail Executive Director (Marketing) Sanjay Gupta said.

"However, usually such phenomenon does not last long and sales tend to revive over time," he added. He did not share specific numbers for the brands cited in the CSE report. When ET visited the outlets of KFC and McDonald's in Kolkata's Park Street on Monday lunchtime, the footfall and occupancy was less than on usual days. And an employee of the KFC outlet said sales have been impacted by around 8-10%.

But, largely, Indian consumers have ignored the CSE warning.

Social commentator and advertising industry veteran Santosh Desai says food-related controversies have rarely dented consumption. "There's a fundamental difference in food consumption habits in India and the West. Here, if anything, people think going to McDonald's occasionally is a healthier option because it's cleaner," he said.

And there has not been much demand for healthier baked and sugar-free foods. In fact, some high-profile sugar-free and low-calorie foods have fallen flat in recent times, as Indians prefer taste to health.

Pepsi Max, PepsiCo's no-sugar, 'next-generation' cola, was withdrawn within a few months of launch, while the country's largest biscuit maker Parle Products took its baked chip brand Monaco Smart Chips off shelves barely a year after its national launch.

Desai said that the case of pesticides in colas was different, because pesticide is recognised as a contaminant. The CSE report, which tested 16 popular brands, had said that food items such as potato chips, burgers and noodles almost wipe out one's daily permissible limits of trans-fat, salt and sugar in just one serving.

With inputs from Writankar Mukherjee in Kolkata