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The Maggi noodles controversy is increasingly turning out to be a tussle between the central food regulator and state bodies on the issue of testing of samples and giving a clean chit to Swiss food major Nestlé.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday issued a statement that it had not given a clean chit to Nestlé’s Maggi noodles, reacting to media reports on the findings of the appellate referral lab — Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) at Mysuru — that samples sent by Goa’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were safe for consumption.
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While stating the test results from CFTRI show the lead level in the Maggi noodle samples is within permissible limits, FSSAI said these were not tested for monosodium glutamate (MSG). CFTRI, a reputed appellate referral lab, had in its report said the Maggi noodles samples tested by it complied with the Food Safety & Standards Rules, 2011.
Even as it pointed at gaps in the CFTRI findings, the central regulator said: “In any case, the test results of Goa samples had no bearing on the order, dated June 5, as the samples tested in Goa were not assumed to be unsafe while passing the recall order by FSSAI”.
On June 5, FSSAI had ordered recall of Maggi noodles from across the country, based on test results of a few states, saying the product was ‘hazardous’ for human consumption. While Uttar Pradesh was the first to find excessive lead content and presence of MSG in the samples, some other states also showed contamination.
Goa FDA director Salim A Veljee told Business Standard that the idea behind sending the five Maggi samples to the Mysuru facility was to restore the credibility of the Goa lab. ''As I mentioned earlier, the latest findings do not in any manner give any clean chit to the company (Nestle India) for their products.'' In fact, no organization including FSSAI can give a clean chit to the company now as the case is in the Bombay High Court and a judicial verdict is expected soon. Nestle India had moved court against FSSAI order to recall Maggi noodles from across the country and stop manufacturing the product.
FSSAI's statement, which seems like an explanation, said, ''it is clarified in the first instance that FSSAI has not given any clean chit regarding the safety of Maggi noodles.'' It then went on to elaborate on the Goa FDA test and why the central regulator had sought clarifications. Pointing out that the food analyst at the Goa lab had gone wrong on the permissible limit of lead in the tastemaker, FSSAI said the results did not contain specific lead content in the samples tested. Goa FDA officials have maintained that the lead content was much below the permissible level in the tested samples, and that specific level was not mentioned in the result. Subsequently, the Goa FDA got the sample tested at the state pollution control board. It was then that Goa FDA, under the Goa state government, sent one part of the samples to CFTRI, Mysuru, for a third test.
Taking on Nestle India, FSSAI said in its statement that it had asked the company for details of the reports of the UK and Singapore regulators but it had not shared the same with it. UK and Singapore are among countries which have said there's no contamination in Maggi noodles. FSSAI added that Goa manufactures all the noodles that is exported to 8 countries. Besides Goa, Maggi noodles is manufactured in Mysuru, Rudrapur, Una in Himachal Pradesh, Moga in Punjab. It also has a packer facility at Howrah in West Bengal.
