US testing Nestle’s Maggi noodles after India recall

Saturday, 13 June 2015 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Zurich (Reuters): The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is testing samples of Maggi, a Nestle instant noodle brand, which was recalled from stores across India last week, a spokeswoman for the Swiss food group said on Thursday.

Nestle, the world’s largest food company, is seeking to defend its reputation in India after it pulled Maggi noodles from stores following reports by regulators that some packets contained excess lead.

A spokeswoman for the Swiss-based company said the United States’ FDA was now also looking into the issue.

“We have been made aware that the FDA has taken samples of Maggi noodles manufactured in India from third-party importers’ containers for testing, and we have asked the importers to advise us of the outcome of the FDA tests,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Nestle does not import, market or distribute Maggi noodles in the United States, the spokeswoman said. Any Maggi noodle products in US stores are sourced by retailers or imported through third parties, she added.

A spokeswoman for the FDA said the agency was looking into the removal of Maggi noodles from the Indian marketplace but that it was not yet clear whether US products were affected by the recall.

In a separate statement, Nestle India said it had lodged a judicial review with the Bombay High Court over an order from India’s Food and Drug Administration, effectively seeking to clarify the state’s method of testing the noodles.

Nestlé argues against ‘arbitrary’ noodle ban in Indian court

MUMBAI (Reuters): An Indian regulator’s report that found excess lead in Maggi instant noodles should be disregarded, food group Nestlé said on Friday, as the sample was open for three months and past its sell-by date by the time it was tested.

Nestlé has been battling its worst ever branding crisis in India since a regulator in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh found monosodium glutamate (MSG) and excess lead in a sample of its hugely popular noodles.

Last week, Nestlé withdrew all varieties of the noodles, hours before the country’s food safety authority (FSSAI) banned the snack, ruling it “unsafe and hazardous”.

But Nestlé maintains the noodles are safe and the food giant told the Bombay High Court on Friday that FSSAI’S decision was arbitrary, and questioned the standards of testing behind it.

“It is a sad commentary on the state of our labs,” Nestlé lawyer Iqbal Chagla said of the sample’s handling, adding delays in testing the pack at the Government’s Calcutta lab may have contaminated it.

The storm over Maggi noodles, one of India’s most popular snacks, has gripped increasingly health-conscious consumers, and has also highlighted shortcomings in the country’s understaffed and underfunded food safety network.

The next hearing is on 30 June. Until then, the court ruled the FSSAI order to withdraw the noodles stands.