Nestle’s Maggi Noodles Could Be Back In Indian Stores Next Month

Nestle’s plan is to resume Maggi sales in November, a spokesman for the Swiss group said on Monday.

But the Bombay High Court, the highest court in the western city now known as Mumbai, overturned the ruling two months later, calling it “arbitrary” and ordered fresh tests.

Indian food safety authorities in May this year banned the production and sale of the instant noodles after laboratory tests revealed they contained dangerously high levels of lead.

“In compliance with orders of the Bombay High Court, fresh samples from the newly manufactured batches will be sent for testing”, another senior Nestle official said.

Central government’s Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had banned Maggi noodles back in May 2015.

Nestle has maintained that its products are safe, and said more than 3,000 samples of the noodles tested by labs in India and overseas confirmed they were safe to eat. “All the 90 samples, covering six variants, tested by these laboratories are clear with lead much below the permissible limits”.

According to a Financial Times report, the production of the two-minute instant noodle has started in three states – Karnataka, Punjab and Goa.

However, the ban is still on going in several states in India.

Following the maggi ban, Nestle India had reported a standalone loss of Rs 64.40 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, its first quarterly loss in over three decades.