Following the ban on Maggi noodles, "Chinese" and other foreign noodles have flooded the North Eastern states. These "foreign" noodles are smuggled through Moreh, the border town in Manipur in truckloads.
Noodles are not included in the approved list of the legalised trade items between India and Myanmar. Official sources said that these "foreign" noodles may actually have been manufactured by some unscrupulous businessmen using the popular brand names.
Since the ingredients are never tested in laboratories these may pose a bigger health hazard than Maggi. For a long time spurious medicines and aphrodisiacs have been imported for brisk sale in the NE region.
There had been some complaints in the recent past that after imbibing soft drink some persons had become dizzy and lost consciousness and most of them were hospitalised. As a result sale of the popular soft drinks had slumped. Taking advantage of it various bottled and canned soft drinks are also smuggled from across the border.