After Maggi, Bihar government on Saturday banned sale, storage, distribution and production of eleven other brands of noodles, produced by seven companies, for a month from August 2.
Patna: Two months after Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on June 5 banned Maggi noodles in the country, the Bihar government on Saturday banned sale, storage, distribution and production of eleven other brands of noodles, produced by seven companies, for a month from August 2.
The firms will have the option to challenge the ban during the one-month period. If they do not, sources said, the ban would be extended.
Bihar is the first state to ban so many products in one go, said state food safety commissioner Anand Kishor. They have been banned for presence of mono sodium glutamate (MSG) in the content. According to Food Safety Standards Act (FSSA), MSG is not permitted in such products.
The Act states contents of every such product should have a mention on its pack. None of these products, however, indicate presence of MSG in the content on their packs, Kishor said and added this offence is called "misbranding".
The samples of these products were collected from different districts of the state in June and were sent to Delhi-based FICCI Research and Analysis Centre. The lab has given adverse reports, the health official said.
According to the lab reports, the samples of Hindustan Unilever Limited's Knorr Soupy Noodles Mast Masala were found to have 262.09mg/kg MSG.
The samples of Capital Foods Pvt Ltd's Ching's Manchurian Instant Noodles were found to have 154.02mg/kg MSG while those of its Ching's Secret Veg Hakka Noodles had 1232.53mg/kg MSG. The samples of GlaxoSmithKline's Foodles Multigrain Ala Masala Noodles had 203.53mg/kg MSG.
Indo Nissin Foods Ltd's four products have been banned.
The samples of Nissin Top Ramen Super noodles had 184.62mg/kg MSG while those of its Top Ramen Curry noodles had 239.88 mg/kg MSG. The tastemaker in the latter was also found to have certain amount of lead.
The samples of Nissin Cup Noodles Veggie Manchow had 4504.93mg/kg MSG. The tastemaker in this product also had some lead. Its Top Ramen Curry Veg Noodles, had 256.54mg/kg MSG.
The samples of ITC Limited Foods Division's Sunfeast Yippee Noodles Magic Masala, collected from Patna, had 335.34mg/kg MSG while its samples collected from Gaya had 205.82mg/kg MSG. The Sunfeast Yippee Noodles Classic Masala samples had 259mg/kg MSG. Kishor said,
"These firms have been asked to recall their products with immediate effect. If anyone is found selling them, action would be initiated against various sections of FSSA."
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