The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant any relief to the Indian arm of the international food giant Nestle, staying an order banning Maggi. The HC observed Nestle was any way in the process of recalling its variants. India’s food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) can, however, initiate action on Nestle after giving a 72-hour notice to the company, said the high court. Nestlé India’s counsel and senior lawyer Iqbal Chagla informed Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawalla that around 35 crore packets were currently being recalled.
The HC also issued notices to both central and state food authorities asking them to file their replies within two weeks. Earlier in the day, Chagla argued that CEO of FSSAI, while passing the order banning Maggi, had acted in an “emergent, drastic and arbitrary” fashion. “The order was passed without giving any notice. How can an order be passed then showcasue notice be issued?” asked Chagla. The FSSAI ordered Nestle India to withdraw all nine variants of Maggi instant noodles from the market terming them “unsafe and hazardous” for human consumption. The company has been given 15 days to reply to a show-cause notice asking why approval for all these products should not be withdrawn.
Chagla further argued that Maggi was neither substandard nor unsafe. He said the company was aware of it’s reputation, credibility not only back here but also internationally. However, Nestle in its petition strongly contested the order saying that there is no question of a health risk or violation of law. The company said, “Findings of Lead being in excess is devoid of merits. The company disputes the result of analysis relating to the finding of Lead in excess of 2.5 ppm (parts per million) in the tastemaker.” The company disputed test results of the FSSAI , saying there are several results for the same product, making it a strong case for doubting the “credibility” of the test results. “One report finds Lead to be 17 ppm, being at so much variation with other reports for the same product, it needs to be isolated for assessment of health risk.” The company claimed the the sample tested by the food authority had passed its expiry date could not have the basis an order having “drastic effects”.
Pointing out that the Maggi tastemaker is not a standardised product, Nestle said it cannot have any defined tolerance limits for Lead. The company said all of the tastemaker’s ingredients are specified and regulated to be used under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011. “Thus, the tastemaker cannot be classified in the residual category of ‘food not specified’ which has a tolerance of 2.5 ppm as majority of the ingredients used in the making have an individual tolerance limit of 2.5 ppm or more and a large number of ingredients have a tolerance of 10 ppm,” the petition said. Nestle reiterated that it “does not add mono sodium glutamate” (MSG) to the instant noodles. The company claimed that it used hydrolysed groundnut protein and a host of other herbs and spices which contain glutamate. Therefore, if tested, there is detection of glutamate, which naturally occurs in many foods including Maggi. “In fact, the analyses conducted by the FSSAI, Delhi shows out of the 13 samples collected, only five were detected positive for MSG. This clearly implies that MSG is not added by the company and is a naturally occurring compound.” Nestle however, said that it will continue to withdraw Maggi noodles product from the market. “We shall proceed further as per orders that may be passed by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court,” said the company.
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