Delhi: Maggi controversy snowballs as noodles taken off shelves

[Serendipity 7,821]

The Delhi government on Wednesday banned the sale of Nestle India Ltd’s popular instant noodles Maggi for 15 days, on allegations of high levels of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG), and expanded the investigation to other noodle brands, while several other states announced their own probes and the army asked its personnel to avoid the snack.
“The issue is serious,” said food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan, as shares of the Swiss multinational’s India arm plunged as much as 10.11% to Rs.6,119.40, its steepest decline since June 2006. The stock was the worst performer on the BSE 100, the BSE 200 and the BSE 500 indices on Wednesday.
As food safety concerns mounted through the day, the nation’s biggest retailer, the Future Group, took the popular snack off the shelves of its stores.
Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain told a press conference: “The Delhi government sent 13 samples from different sources for testing yesterday (Tuesday). In 10 samples, lead was found in large quantities. It should be 2 parts per million (ppm), but it was more than that... in the range of 3.54-4.59 ppm. In five samples, MSG has been found. We have directed that all brand samples be checked.”
MSG is often added to packaged food as a flavour enhancer, but it can cause headaches, chest pain and nausea in some people.
The minister said a “presentation” made by Nestle officials on Wednesday morning was unsatisfactory. “We have banned Maggi for 15 days. We are not making the assumption that their products are spoilt; it could be a bad batch, so we are giving them time to replace their products. After 15 days, we will reassess. We are stopping sales for now. For other companies, samples are being picked up today,” Jain added.
In a statement to BSE, Nestle India said: “We wish to state that we have till now not received any orders from any state/central FDA (food and d--gs administration) authorities to recall Maggi noodle products in the market except an order from the Uttar Pradesh FDA dated 30.4.2015 asking us to recall a batch of Maggi noodles manufactured in February 2014, which had already reached the ‘best before date’ in November 2014. We are cooperating with the authorities who are conducting tests and awaiting their results.”
Delhi’s ban came a day after the government of Kerala ordered its state-run stores to take Maggi off their shelves. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the highest food standards body in the country, said it had picked up samples of Maggi noodles for tests from across 20 states and expected the results later this week.
As the controversy escalated, the army issued an advisory on Wednesday evening, asking its personnel not to eat Maggi noodles and directed its canteens to set aside existing stocks till further orders.
Several retail chains across the country, including the largest retailer Future Group, also announced the withdrawal of Maggi noodles from their outlets. Maggi had a 80.2% market share in the instant-noodle category in the quarter ended 31 March 2015, up from about 70% in 2011, according to a May report by Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd.
“In the interest of consumer sentiment and concerns, we have taken Maggi noodles off the shelves from all our stores for the time being. We will wait for more clarity from authorities to take any further course of action,” said a Future Group spokesperson in an email response.
The governments of Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Assam ordered collection of samples of Maggi noodles for testing on Wednesday. The West Bengal government went a step further—it said it would send samples of popular snacks Kurkure and Lays for testing as well.
Meanwhile, the centre, in a first, filed a written complaint before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission against the Indian arm of the Swiss multinational for alleged violations of safety standards.
Paswan said checks had been ordered on Maggi noodles. “We are not going to wait for all the reports to come,” he told reporters, adding, “The issue is serious.”
How it all started
Nestle’s troubles started in March last year when a batch of Maggi noodles—manufactured in February 2014—was tested as part of a routine, random sampling by the FDA of Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh. The tests, conducted on a dozen samples, at the Regional Public Analyst Laboratory in Gorakhpur, found lead content to be 17.2 ppm, higher than the maximum permissible limit of 2 ppm. The tests also found MSG in the product, even though the label did not mention MSG as an ingredient, said FDA commissioner Pravin Kumar Singh.
A notice was then sent to Nestle India for violation of FDA regulations.
Nestle challenged the test results in July. The Maggi samples were then sent to the apex central food testing laboratory in Kolkata, FDA officer V.P. Pandey said. The results of those tests came out in April this year and confirmed the earlier results of the Gorakhpur lab. Now, the additional chief judicial magistrate of Barabanki has summoned Nestle India executives on 1 July under sections 58 and 59 (1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The law
Sections 58 and 59 (1) deal with punishment for selling unsafe food. Anyone who manufactures, stores, retails, distributes or imports food items considered unsafe for human consumption can be punished under four levels of the Act, says Safir Anand, a senior partner at law firm Anand and Anand. The four levels of punishment range from six months’ imprisonment to life in prison. There is also a penalty, depending on the nature of the offence—from Rs.50,000 to Rs.10 lakh.
Since the FDA has charged Nestle India with manufacturing food that is unsafe for consumption, this gives consumers a window to charge the company for any health reaction from eating Maggi noodles, which in turn can further escalate into a larger problem for the company, said Anand, adding that he hopes the company can resolve the matter soon.

 

 

Source

 

 

I can't believe I was eating poison 3 days back

[Giorno Giovanna 3,178]

Why would you even eat this $hhhh...it?

if you want instant noodles there are definitely better ones

or cook something fresh

[Serendipity 7,821]

Why would you even eat this $hhhh...it?

if you want instant noodles there are definitely better ones

or cook something fresh

​This is the most popular brand here

Nestle does intense promotion for this

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

Gaga needs to ditch the dog idea and start a new line of noodles 

[darkchylde 14,857]

​This is the most popular brand here

Nestle does intense promotion for this

​Same for Spain, this is the most popular instant noodles we have out of the two or three brands that make them here.

[Serendipity 7,821]

Gaga needs to ditch the dog idea and start a new line of noodles 

​What should the name be?

Gaga + Noodle=Google

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

​What should the name be?

Gaga + Noodle=Google

​Little Noodles, the noodle ball, noodlerave, ARTNOODLE 

[Serendipity 7,821]

​Same for Spain, this is the most popular instant noodles we have out of the two or three brands that make them here.

​Mess at this evil corporation

 

It completely dominates South Asia

India and Malaysia have over 75% use of Maggi's products

[Serendipity 7,821]

​Little Noodles, the noodle ball, noodlerave, ARTNOODLE 

​Sounds like a buffet(yum)

 

Get a taste of Gaga's latest Noodlerave (literally)

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

​Sounds like a buffet(yum)

 

Get a taste of Gaga's latest Noodlerave (literally)

​Soy, Soy, Soy, we like soy and noodles!

Soy, Soy, Soy, buy us ramen and chicken

Soy soy soy, with mushroom and tofu, soy soy soy. We love them! 

[VOLANTIS 16,503]

​Sounds like a buffet(yum)

 

Get a taste of Gaga's latest Noodlerave (literally)

​I can already see the 11 min promo for this where Godly Men eat Noodles from her bare Venus. 

Noodlerave : The first Raving Noodles by the Haus Laboratories 

[Serendipity 7,821]

​Soy, Soy, Soy, we like soy and noodles! Soy, Soy, Soy, ramen and chicken, soy soy soy, mushroom and tofu, soy soy soy. We love them! 

​Just Eat, it's gonna be OK

Ahh-ooh-ooh-ohh, lets eat

Let's, let's,let's Eat

 

Foodga ha debut single

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

Omg isn't volantis tumblr famous, i just fainted he thinks im paw worthy 

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

​Just Eat, it's gonna be OK

Ahh-ooh-ooh-ohh, lets eat

Let's, let's,let's Eat

 

Foodga ha debut single

​LG5 confirmed 

[VOLANTIS 16,503]

Omg isn't volantis tumblr famous, i just fainted he thinks im paw worthy 

Make me Cackle. Get a Paw.