Nestle is reportedly facing a fine of INR4bn (US$62.3m) over the recall of its Maggi noodles in India as the country's Department of Consumer Affairs prepares to file a legal complaint against the company.
The company was forced to recall its Maggi noodles in June after food safety regulators detected elevated levels of lead and found MSG, when product packaging indicated the noodles were free from the ingredient. The consumer protection body is preparing to take the issue to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and, according to a report in The Times of India, the agency plans to issue a fine in excess of INR4bn.
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A spokesperson for Nestle told just-food the company has not received "any official notification" on the matter.
Nestle has repeatedly insisted its Maggi noodles are "safe" with its own testing – and that conducted by an independent laboratory – finding levels of lead allowed under Indian regulations. The Swiss food giant also denies adding MSG to its noodles produced in India and the company is challenging a ban on the sale of Maggi noodles in India via the Bombay High Court.
In a further development today (11 August), it emerged the US Food and Drug Administration has cleared Maggi noodles made in India and imported to the US of containing excess levels of lead. "We have learnt from our official importer in the United States, House of Spices, that the US Food and Drug Administration has tested several shipments of Maggi noodles from India for lead content. Finding no unsafe lead levels, FDA released the noodles for sale in the United States," Nestle confirmed.
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The US joins other international food safety regulators – including in the UK, Canada and Singapore – to have found Maggi noodles to be compliant.
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By GlobalDataThe Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the federal body that introduced the ban against the Maggi noodles, has suggested its international food safety counterparts found Maggi to be safe because exported products are supplied from a single facility. The FSSAI said the noodles for export markets were produced by Nestle at its plant in Bicholim, Goa. It said Maggi noodles destined for the Indian market were produced at five different facilities in India.
However, a spokesperson for Nestle refuted the implication food safety standards vary across its Indian production sites. "All manufacturing plants of Nestle India use state-of-the-art technology, follow the same stringent standards and are FSSC 22000 certified. Products manufactured at all the Nestle India plants maintain the same high quality. The Maggi noodles made for the export market are produced on the same manufacturing lines as those for the domestic market, and over 90% of the production in the Bicholim plant is supplied to the domestic market."
