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The recall was ordered last Friday by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Maggi noodles — one of the country’s best-loved comfort foods — were “unsafe and hazardous for human consumption”.
Nestlé has disputed that claim, and expressed dismay last week at the “environment of confusion” enveloping consumers.
The Swiss company said on Thursday that it had approached the court to raise “issues of interpretation” over India’s food safety rules, asking for a judicial review of the FSSAI order. Until then, Nestlé said it would continue the withdrawal of its Maggi noodles from the market.
The controversy over the noodles began simmering in April when an Indian government food laboratory in Calcutta tested samples of the product and found lead levels seven times higher than permissible limits.
The scrutinised noodle packets had been seized more than a year before from a supermarket in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and had made the long journey to the lab in Calcutta.
Subsequently, other Indian states were ordered to conduct their own safety tests, which returned differing results. Local food safety authorities in New Delhi and the southern state of Tamil Nadu found lead in the noodles, while other states, including Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and West Bengal found no evidence of lead.
Nestlé said its own tests of 1,000 Maggi samples, and independent laboratory examinations of another 600 samples, all found lead levels below the permissible Indian limits.
Paul Bulcke, Nestlé’s global chief executive, last week said that the company was seeking more information about India’s testing methodology.
In last week’s recall order, the FSSAI said Nestlé executives had argued that the noodle packets tested in Calcutta “showed a high level of lead because the samples remained open for a considerable period before testing”.
Meanwhile, the controversy has spilled into other markets where Nestlé sells its Indian-made Maggi noodles — largely to cater to the tastes of the ethnic Indian consumers there. Singapore’s food regulator, which briefly halted the sale of Maggi noodles imported from India, earlier this week said that its lab tests found the product was safe to eat.
India exported 2,800 tonnes of Maggi noodles to other markets in 2014
In the UK — where Nestlé sells its Indian-made “masala flavour” Maggi noodles — the Food Safety Authority said last week that it would test for lead in a selection of Maggi noodles. The Canadian Food Safety Authority also said it was probing possible lead in imported Maggi noodle products.