More noodle, pasta brands to be tested soon

Action to be taken on food items found not conforming to applicable standards.

The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department will soon begin testing various other noodles, pasta and macaroni brands, a senior official said.

This comes in the wake of a directive from the Food Safety and Standards authority of India (FSSAI), which has asked for testing of several products of seven brands, including four variants of Nestle India’s Maggi Nutri-licious Pazzta. This apart, nine variants of Maggi noodles, including the ‘cuppa’ varieties are to be tested.

“We have already initiated tests on some of the brands that tests have now been ordered on. We will begin testing the rest, including the Pazzta, once this first batch of testing is over,” the official said.

While some test results from the samples in Chennai have already come in and showed excess levels of lead, results from the other samples are expected in the next couple of days, he said, adding that the department was following a strict protocol of the testing procedure to ensure results were above board.

Other brands that are to be tested include three noodles of ITC Limited, Indo Nissin Food’s Top Ramen, 10 varieties of GSK Consumer Healthcare’s Foodles and CG Food India’s Wai Wai noodles.

“Various test results on Maggi and some other similar products have raised serious health concerns. In view of the same, it would be advisable to draw regulatory samples for similar products for which product approvals have been granted by the FSSAI,” the letter from the regulatory body to the commissioners of food safety said.

The letter also asks for the products to be tested for quality parameters such as moisture and total ash excluding salt, metal contaminants including lead, copper, arsenic and mercury as well as naturally occurring toxic substances such as aflatoxin and others. Action should be taken on food items found not conforming to applicable standards, it said.

On June 4, the Tamil Nadu government had banned the manufacture, stocking and sale of Maggi noodles and three other brands — Wai Wai Xpress Noodles, Reliance Select Instant Noodles, and Smith and Jones Chicken Masala Noodles for a period of three months as they were found to contain unacceptable levels of lead. On Friday, Nestle India said it was withdrawing Maggi noodles in the country.

Instant noodles and Maggi have been in the midst of a controversy since the product was found to contain high levels of lead, a toxic metal and monosodium glutamate (MSG) in a test done in Uttar Pradesh.

Since then, tests have been performed in several States across the country showing high levels of lead.

Directive from FSSAI that action should be taken on food items found not conforming to applicable standards