The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has rejected findings of the Food & Drugs Laboratory of Goa as well as CFTRI, Mysore over test discrepancies, related to Maggi Noodles, according to a press statement.
Rubbishing tests conducted by the Goa lab, the food regulator said food analysts at the lab had “wrongly taken the permissible limit of Lead as 10 parts per million as against the actual maximum permissible level of 2.5 ppm”. On the report of the CFTRI on the same sample, FSSAI said the Mysore lab had not tested the noodles for the banned MSG.
“It is clarified in the first instance that FSSAI has not given any clean chit regarding the safety of Maggi Noodles,” it said in the statement that followed reports that the Goa and Mysore labs have found Maggi samples safe.
Yesterday, the FSSAI-approved laboratory of Central Food Technological Research Institutue (CFTRI) has reportedly found Maggi noodles to be in compliance with the country’s food safety standards.
CFTRI had tested five samples sent by Goa Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when Maggi was banned in June in the wake of findings in Uttar Pradesh and other states that the instant noodles brand had lead levels beyond permissible limits.
“CFTRI finding shows that samples are in compliance with the food safety standards as per the Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011,” Goa FDA director Salim A Veljee told PTI.
Goa FDA had sent the Maggi noodles samples to Mysore-based CFTRI for retesting of the safety of instant noodles after FSSAI expressed apprehensions on state FDA’s initial report, which had found lead within permissible limits.
FSSAI said the samples tested by labs at Goa and subsequently Mysore were primarily drawn from Nestle’s Bicholim factory in Goa, which manufactures the noodles largely for exports to as many as eight countries.
“In any case, the test results of Goa samples had no bearing on the order dated 5th June, 2015 as the samples tested qua Goa were not assumed to be unsafe while passing the Recall order by FSSAI. As such, the present test reports do not have any bearing on that order,” the statement further added.
In June this year, Nestle had to take Maggi off the shelves, after few states decided to ban the noodles. FSSAI had also banned Maggi instant noodles terming them “unsafe and hazardous” for human consumption.
FSSAI had also said that Nestle violated labelling regulations on taste enhancer ‘MSG’ and ordered company to submit compliance report on its orders.
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