Maggi row: Nestle says tests done at non-accredited labs

MUMBAI: Nestle India has hit back at Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) for its June 5 ban on the popular 2-minute Maggi noodles by stating that the laboratories where noodle samples tested positive for excessive lead content "lacked accreditation, and are thus inconsistent and unreliable". It also questioned the grounds of "emergency" for a pan-India ban.

The company, which has now filed its rejoinder in the Bombay high court to the affidavit filed by the FSSAI, a central government authority governing food items, attacked the validity of the government lab test results. "The FSSAI and its CEO wrongly claim in their affidavits that reports of analysis, before passing the June 5 ban on all nine variants of Maggi noodles, were on the basis of an analysis conducted in accredited and notified laboratories," it said, highlighting the importance of accreditation of a lab by NABL — National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories — in the context of the complex testing for lead, which requires "highly proficient, clean labs, special equipment and highly trained analysts". 

"All equipment for sampling, water, all reagents are also potential sources of lead," said Nestle, adding that the Kolkata referral lab where the UP samples were sent and showed an "absurd 17 PPM leaded content" was also stripped off its accreditation. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 itself requires labs to be NABL-accredited. 

"The FSSAI order to ban Maggi on the basis of tests conducted in non-accredited labs is arbitrary, illegal and liable to be set aside," Nestle said. It added, "The very fact the results were inconsistent should have been sufficient to suggest that results are suspicious..." 

Nestle said in contrast, 90 samples it had tested in its own and external laboratories abroad showed Maggi was safe to consume, with lead only around 0.016 ppm to 0.074 ppm. It said "food authorities in UK, Canada and Singapore found Maggi noodles to be safe". 

The company's challenge against the ban, which the HC has not stayed, will be heard on July 14.