This Article is From Jul 31, 2015

Let's Try Again, Says Court, Suggesting New Maggi Noodle Tests

Let's Try Again, Says Court, Suggesting New Maggi Noodle Tests

A vendor works at a roadside Maggi noodles eatery. (Reuters)

The Bombay High Court has suggested new tests on Maggi noodles, which were banned in India early last month.

  1. The country's food safety regulator had declared the instant noodles, which are hugely popular, as "unsafe and hazardous for human consumption".

  2. Nestle, the maker, maintains the snack is safe and has challenged the national ban in court.

  3. The court said that samples could be freshly tested in five labs that are agreed upon by Nestle and the food safety authority.

  4. Nestle has agreed to the suggestion. The regulator is expected to respond tomorrow.

  5. Nestle has been at the centre of the worst food scare in a decade, after a regulator in Uttar Pradesh in May found what is described as dangerous levels of  lead in a sample of the hugely popular snack.

  6. The national regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) then ordered a nationwide recall.

  7. The food safety regulator  also accused Nestle  of violating labeling and other rules in India.

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

  9. Maggi two-minute noodles sell  for Rs 12 per single-serving packet. The brand has been a market leader for three decades, though it now competes with rival brands like Hindustan Unilever Ltd's Knorr.

  10. 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.



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