The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which banned the product in June, didn't respond to queries regarding the FSA statement.
NEW DELHI: Britain's food regulator has found Nestle's Maggi noodles made in India to be perfectly safe for consumption, despite also testing the noodles and the tastemaker separately like its Indian counterpart.
"None of the products tested in the UK so far has given the FSA any indication that EU (European Union) maximum limits have been exceeded," a UK Food Safety Agency (FSA) spokesperson said in an email. "Some of the samples tested consisted of the noodles and flavour combined and others have been tested separately. Where they have been tested separately the levels of lead reported in the flavouring have not given cause for concern." The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which banned the product in June, didn't respond to queries regarding the FSA statement.
The India ban has thrown the packaged foods business in the country into disarray. Several companies have withdrawn instant noodles from shops, uncertain about regulatory action, while many jittery consumers have stopped buying packaged snacks. This has meant that the sales spurt the category sees during the monsoon season is absent this year, industry executives said.
To be sure, the permissible lead content is expressed differently in the two countries - 0.2g/kg in the UK and 2.5 ppm (parts per million) in India. The UK FSA spokesperson said the risks to consumers from lead in food relate to "long-term exposure from the whole of the diet".
"None of the reported levels is likely to increase consumer exposure above usual background levels and as such no enforcement action has been taken in the UK," said the spokesperson. Apart from the UK, four countries to which India-made Maggi noodles is exported have declared the product safe. These are Canada, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Nestle said there is no difference in the noodles meant for export and for the local market.
"The noodles made for the export market are produced on the same manufacturing lines as those for the Indian market at our factory in Bicholim," the company said in an email. "Since packaging materials are designed to meet the regulatory requirements of each importing country, they will need to be packed separately with a separate batch number for traceability."
It exports Maggi noodles to Nestle in the UK, Canada, Singapore and Kenya and third parties in the US, Australia and New Zealand.
"Nestle applies the same quality standards everywhere in the world - in India, in the US, in the EU, everywhere - and in addition ensures that we meet the regulatory requirements of each country where the product is sold," the company said.
There needs to be greater clarity on the rules in India, said RK Bansal, former director at the food processing ministry and a member of the committee that formulated the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
"There are no guidelines prescribed in the regulations unfortunately," he said. "Due to lack of clarity, Maggi noodles can be treated as one product and the tastemaker can be treated as a different product. Since there are no set guidelines, it is totally up to the analysts in laboratories what they want to do and each analyst may have adifferent take on this."
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) spokesperson told ET in an email that its tests showed India-made Maggi noodles met "food safety standards and do not pose food safety risks to consumers."
The UK regulator said it didn't test for monosodium glutamate (MSG) content because this is allowed under EU rules. The Indian watchdog had found fault with Nestle over the Maggi noodles packaging bearing a 'No added MSG' message.
"The FSA considers that MSG can be safely used in foods in accordance with the conditions set out in EU food additives legislation," the spokesperson said. "MSG has been evaluated for safety by a number of independent expert committees at UK, European and international level. These committees have concluded that at current levels of use, MSG does not present a risk to health."
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