Bombay high court to hear Nestle's plea over Maggie ban tomorrow

Nestle India, the maker of the banned Maggie instant noodles, today moved the Bombay high court seeking a judicial review of Maharashtra government's order banning Maggie noodles. The high court is set to hear the case tomorrow.

Nestle approached the high court against an order passed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) after 23 per cent of all samples of Maggie noodles tested positive for 'lead poisoning.'

The matter came up before a division bench of Justices VM Kanade and BP Colabawalla and the case is likely to be heard on Friday.

"As part of the efforts to resolve the Maggi noodles issue, Nestle India has today approached the Bombay High Court raising issues of interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2011 while seeking a judicial review of the order dated June 6, 2015, passed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Maharashtra and the order dated June 5 passed by FSSAI," Nestle had said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"At the same time, we are continuing withdrawal of Maggi noodle products. This action will not interfere with this process," the company said.

The FSSAI had issued an order last week banning all variants of Nestle India's Maggi noodles, saying they were "unsafe and hazardous" for human consumption.

Nestle India also recalled Maggi noodles from the market after several states banned it as tests showed it contained the taste enhancer MSG (monosodium glutamate) and lead in excess of permissible limits (See: Maggi exits Indian stores, promises stronger comeback).

It all started in April, when the food regulator of Uttar Pradesh, UP FDA ordered a recall of a batch of about 2 lakh packs of the Maggi instant noodles due to higher than permitted levels of lead and food additives.

Following this, nine states have conducted laboratory tests and 11 states banned the product in line with a directive of the national food regulator FSSAI.

On 29 May, taking a ''serious'' note of quality issues related to Nestle's popular noodle brand Maggi, the government asked the  FSSAI to look into the matter, which in turn, collected samples of Maggi from different states for testing.

Meanwhile, activists filed cases against actors Madhuri Dixit, Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta, who have been associated with endorsements for Maggi over the claims made in the advertisement.

The same day, the Food Safety and Drug Administration of the UP government filed a case against the manufacturing company, Nestle India Ltd, and five others, including the Barabanki store from where samples with excess lead were seized (Criminal case filed against Nestle India over tainted Maggie).

The Uttarakhand Food Safety Department too collected samples of the noodle brand from the company's plant at Pantnagar in the state. Confirming the presence of MSG, the state banned Maggi.

Nestle India, however, said it has got tested samples of the noodle brand in an external laboratory as well as in-house and the product has been found ''safe to eat'' with lead levels within the permissible levels for consumption. The company was, however, silent on the presence of the taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Nestle India's stocks continued to slump amid growing concerns about safety standards of its popular Maggi noodles. Nestle was trading 0.44 per cent higher at Rs6,083.35 on BSE today.

In a BSE filing, the company said it has not received any order from the central or any state FDA authority for recall of its Maggi noodles.

However, state-owned retail outlets in Kerala and Delhi have banned the sale of Maggi. Leading retail chains have also reportedly taken them off from its shelves. The Army too issued advisory to its personnel asking them not to eat Maggi noodles and directed its canteens not to sell them till further orders.