Mumbai’s Ice Cream Parlour Throws Away 26 Tonnes Of Ice-Cream Due To COVID-19 Lockdown

by Suchismita Pal
Mumbai’s Ice Cream Parlour Throws Away 26 Tonnes Of Ice-Cream Due To COVID-19 Lockdown

Amid lockdown, more than 1 lakh litres of craft beer went down the drains in Delhi and Mumbai owing to shorter lifespans and unavailability of customers.  Now, we have come across another heartbreaking news of ice-creams being discarded due to the same reasons. The announcement of the statewide lockdown on March 19 by the Maharashtra government came unanticipated and Naturals Ice Cream Factory in Mumbai did not know what to do with nearly 26 tonnes of fresh ice-creams. The company officials had even tried to distribute the ice-cream in 45,000 small boxes, but the corona restrictions came into play, and they had no option other than throwing it away.

Mumbai's Ice Cream
Picture Credits: Facebook/ Natural Ice Cream

Mumbai’s Naturals Ice Cream Factory Throws Away 26 Tonnes Of Ice-Cream

Fresh fruit ice-creams from producers like Naturals and Baskin Robbins have a shorter shelf life of nearly 15 days than regular long-life ice-creams, which have a life of about 90 to 180 days. 26 tonnes of ice-cream had been lying inside the cold storage for 35 days in Mumbai’s Naturals’ factory. According to Beforeworks report,  Hemant Naik, vice-president, Naturals Ice Cream, said, “We have not formulated any policy on what to do after the expiry of our products. Being a dairy product, we couldn’t do anything about it. It had to be thrown away. We did not even think that the Maharashtra government would suddenly bring a lockdown before the Central Government.”

Also Read: Enjoy Tadgola Ice Cream In Mumbai At Naturals Now

The Company Faced A Loss Of Nearly ₹2 Crores Due To The Discarded Ice-Cream

The factory officials had asked for approval from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and local police for the movement of vehicles to distribute the ice-cream. But due to the strict lockdown measures, that was hardly possible. Unfortunately, they had to throw away the ice-cream which incurred a loss of nearly ₹2 crores for the company.  Also, demand for ice-creams had declined after the pandemic. As per a BT Economy report, MD of Hyderabad-based Scoops Ice Cream said, “Beyond lockdown, the sale of ice-cream was particularly hit by the wild rumour that ice-cream causes coronavirus.” 

Mumbai's Ice Cream
Facebook/ Natural Ice Cream

Also Read: Ice Cream Does Not Carry The Coronavirus Nor Does Its Consumption Cause The Virus

Unable to cope with the acute financial difficulties amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of restaurants too have shut their doors permanently. As per reports, one in four restaurants in India may never reopen again.  After COVID-19, the eateries in India have faced an overall loss of over 1,00,000 crores. According to The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), over 5 lakh people in the industry have already lost their jobs. Here’s what NRAI President Anurag Katriar has to say about the functioning of restaurants post-COVID-19: