Maggi episode: UP to file court case against Nestle India

UP FDA had picked up in Barabanki a batch of Maggi contaminated with lead and monosodium glutamate

Uttarpradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon file a court case against Nestle India over detection of high lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) content in a batch of Maggi.

Since, the 'contaminated' batch of Maggi was picked up byFDA from Barabanki, about 25 km from the state capital here, the case would also be filed in a district court there.

"We have forwarded the recommendation to our designated district officer to file the case against Nestle India," UP FDA Additional Commissioner (Administration) Ram Araj Maurya told Business Standard today.

Barabanki FDA designated officer V K Pandey confirmed they had completed all the preliminary homework to present a foolproof case before the court.

Meanwhile, the FDA continues to collect random samples of Maggi for checking across UP. So far, about a dozen samples had been collected in Lucknow and sent to the laboratory for checking to ascertain if these batches were 'clean'.

"The lab report of three such Maggi samples has come and they have tested negative, while the report of the remaining samples is awaited," Maurya informed.

There are six FDA labs in UP at Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Varanasi, Agra and Jhansi. Besides, the FDA has been randomly checking samples of other food items sold in UP.

"We have not initiated any special drive, but in the routine nature of our job, we have been conducting frequent checks to collect food," he added.

During a similar check, the Maggi samples collected by FDA in Barabanki, were found containing MSG beyond the permissible level.

However, Nestle contested the findings. Later, the samples were sent to the central lab in Kolkata, which not only reaffirmed the findings of the UP lab about MSG, but also detected lead in the Maggi noodles.

Later, Nestle India was asked to recall the batch.