USFDA test results awaited though.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: In a relief to Nestle India, the Bombay High court on Tuesday gave a clean chit to the Swiss company to export the banned Maggi noodles product to other countries.
The popular two-minute instant noodles was banned in India by the food regulator after finding excessive amount of lead and MSG in sample packets collected from different states. Though Nestle India argued that it couldn’t find the toxic substances in Maggi, it called back all 9 variants of Maggi noodles from the market even before the regulators labelled Maggi as “unsafe and hazardous.â€
The food safety regulator said in the court: “Why blame us? If the company claims that its product is safe and follows safety standards then let it export it instead of destroying.”
The statement of the food safety regulator prompted the court to give a green signal to Nestle India to export Maggi.
According to Nestle India, it has till now withdrawn 17,000 crore packets of Maggi noodles, which was later destroyed. The Swiss firm estimate a revenue loss of Rs. 3.2 billion just for recalling and destroying the packets, which is said to be the biggest withdrawal ever by any company.
Nestle India challenged the regulators’ ban on Maggi calling it “unauthorised, arbitrary and unconstitutional for violating the right to equality and trade.” It also raised questions about the testing standard used to by the central lab, saying that it is a violation of natural justice as it was not given proper hearing.
Nestle had argued that samples tested in Singapore, UK and other countries couldn’t find any trace of lead hence it should be allowed to export the product. The Indian food safety regulator does check the quality of the exported product. It is the sole responsibility of the importing country to decide the quality of the product.
According to Wall Street Journal, India has a patchy record when it comes to exporting food to the US. Figures show that snacks imported from India were rejected more by the US FDA than from any other country, including the popular Haldiram’s products.
It is also unclear how the high court order is going to affect the export of Maggi noodles to the US, its top export destination, as the USFDA is testing the product. If the USFDA test results find Maggi noodles to be an ‘unsafe’ product, it would overrule India’s high court decision, as far as the US is concerned. That would be a big blow to Nestle.
Nestle is facing one of the worst brand crisis ever since its inception after the Uttar Pradesh food regulator found excess content of lead and MSG in Maggi noodles samples. The Bombay High Court will continue hearing arguments on July 14.