Food minister rebuffs reports on Maggi noodle’s return to Indian markets

Reuters: India’s food minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday rebuffed media reports wherein he was quoted saying that Nestle’s Maggi noodles would make a comeback in the Indian markets.

Paswan said that the sole authority to take a call on the matter was Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

“I said that FSSAI is the authority, it’s up to the food authority body to decide over Maggi. What the government wants is that the health safety, the food safety remains intact as no compromise can be made when it comes to health. Moreover we also don’t want to restrict the growth or innovation ability of any company,” said Paswan in New Delhi.

He further added that the government did not want to make any comments which could affect the investment flow of the company. On Thursday Paswan was quoted saying he was hopeful that Nestle’s Maggi will be back on the shelves soon, drawing comfort from favourable test reports for the top instant noodles brand from some accredited laboratories.

Goa’s Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) had on Wednesday  said that it found no excess lead in the product as detected by Uttar Pradesh authorities.

Nestle 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.

Nestle withdrew all varieties of Maggi noodles on June 5, hours before the FSSAI banned the snack, ruling it “unsafe and hazardous” after an allegedly high amount of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) were found in samples. .

Sales of Maggi in India represent roughly 0.005 percent of Nestle’s global revenue of almost 92 billion Swiss francs ($98.6 billion),

Maggi two-minute noodles, which sell for a dozen rupees ($0.20) per single-serving packet, are hugely popular in India. The snack is frequently served to children and eaten at roadside shacks and “Maggi points” across the country.

With Bollywood superstars in its advertising campaigns, Maggi has been a market leader for three decades.

The noodle scare is India’s biggest involving packaged foods since 2006, when an environmental group raised questions over pesticide traces in Coca Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc fizzy drinks.