Pasta is safe, says Nestle

Its pasta products, sold under the brand name Maggi Pazzta are found to be carrying lead beyond permissible limits in tests carried out at state-owned food testing laboratory in Lucknow.

A report in the Press Trust of India (PTI) said UP FDA (in Mau) had collected samples of Nestle’s pasta from Sriji Traders, a distributor of the Swiss packaged food firm, in UP on 10 June and the samples were tested at the government laboratory.

The National Food Analysis Laboratory, Lucknow found led limit to be 6 PPM (parts per million), beyond the permissible limit of 2.5 PPM, said Designated Officer at Food and Drug Administration Mau, Arvind Yadav. The letter informing the Nestle company sent at its Modinagar address has come back here undelivered, ” Yadav said.

The news reports adds that Nestle says the company was not aware of the test.

“We will work with the authorities to resolve the situation as quickly as possible”, Nestle India said in a statement.

“They (Nestle) were sent a letter over a month ago, intimating them about the results”.

Stating that Maggi Pazzta is 100 per cent safe, the company further said, “The finished product and the raw materials used to make it undergo rigorous testing during every stage of the manufacturing process”.

In reports of these centres, It is found that Nestle had excess amount Of Lead in its product, which is very harmful to the consumers, so due to concerned about the public health and public taste, the court had banned the some of Nestle product which had an excess amount of Lead. Nestle India’s managing director Suresh Narayanan, who has taken up the unenviable task of managing the negative backlash of the Maggi noodles controversy has been advised to “spend more on advertising, marketing and promotions across categories to counter impact on sales caused by the Maggi ban”. In June its hugely popular instant noodles Maggi was banned by the Food Safety and Standards Authority terming it unsafe and hazardous for consumption.

In the month of July, Bombay High court set the countrywide ban on Maggi in India.