Maggi row: Nestle moves Bombay High Court against ‘ban’ on Maggi noodles

“The finding of lead being in excess is devoid of merits. The company disputes the results of analysis relating to the finding of lead in excess of 2.5 ppm (parts per million) in the tastemaker,” says the 51-page petition.

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There are several results for the same product, making it a strong case for doubting the “credibility” of the test results, Nestle said. “One report finds lead to be 17 ppm. It is so much in variation with other reports for the same product. Hence it needs to be isolated for assessment of health risk,” the company said.

Nestle also claimed that the samples collected by the authority had passed their expiry date. Hence they can’t be the basis of an order having “drastic effects,” it said.

Pointing out that Maggi tastemaker is not a standardised product, Nestle said it cannot have any defined tolerance limits for lead.
However, all of the tastemaker’s ingredients are specified and regulated to be used under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2011.

“Thus, the tastemaker cannot be classified in the residual category of ‘food not specified’ which has a tolerance of 2.5 ppm as majority of the ingredients used in the making have an individual tolerance limit of 2.5 ppm or more and a large number of ingredients have a tolerance of 10 ppm,” the petition said.

Nestle reiterated that it does not add monosodium glutamate (MSG) to the instant noodles. The company claimed that it used hydrolysed groundnut protein and a host of other herbs and spices which contain glutamate. Therefore, if tested, there could be detection of glutamate, which naturally occurs in many foods including Maggi.

“In fact, the analyses conducted by the FSSAI, Delhi shows out of the 13 samples collected, only five were detected positive for MSG. This clearly implies that MSG is not added by the company and is a naturally occurring compound,” it said.

Nestle, however, said that it will continue to withdraw Maggi noodles from the market.

The company has contested FSSAI’s move to “alienate” the tastemaker from the noodles and testing it in isolation. Nestle said the FSSAI committed the error of basing its findings on the test whereas the law requires the food authority to look at an overall assessment.