MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday reserved its orderin the tussle between Nestle India and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over the nationwide ban enforced on sale of its popular 2-minute Maggi noodles. Nestle had moved the HC against a June 5 ban imposed on sale and manufacture of Maggi noodles and a ban issued in Maharashtra on June 6 after 30 samples out of 72 tested high for lead content.
A bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawalla had proposed to the food safety regulator FSSAI if it could do a retest of the samples. Mehmood Pracha, counsel for FSSAI CEO Yudhvir Singh told the HC that a retest was not permitted in the food safety Act and also said, if permitted, would open floodgates.
Darius Khambata, counsel for Maharashtra food authorities, said the extra preserved samples already taken could be tested, but only in referral labs. Nestle said it would give fresh samples for a test at labs notified and accredited.
In response to the food authority's claims that Nestle is destroying evidence, Nestle counsel Iqbal Chagla had refuted the claim, saying it had preserved 750 crates of 90 Maggi packets each for sampling. The HC posted the matter to next week as there was no consensus on fresh tests.
Nestle has argued that its product is safe for consumption as it has always been for three decades.
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