Food and beverage giant Nestle India is once again under the scanner, and for the second time around, it is because of Maggi. According to media reports, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) JK Sharma, in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh has fined Nestle India and its distributors Rs 62 lakh. The court has fined Nestle India Rs 45 lakh and the distributors in the region Rs 17 lakh, according to an NDTV report.
The authorities had reportedly collected samples in November 2016 and sent them for a lab test, and the test found the ash content in the samples to be more than the permissible limits, reported PTI.
The sample of Maggi noodles procured, reportedly had 2.54% ash content excluding the salt in the Tastemaker, and Maggi Atta noodles had an ash content of 2.6%, while Maggi Pazzta samples were found with 1.2% ash. Ash is the inorganic residue remaining after the water and organic matter has been removed by heating, which provides a measure of the total amount of minerals within a food. The current permissible limit given by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is 1%.
Also, according to the TOI report, four samples of Maggi noodles, two samples of Atta noodles and one of Pazzta failed the test.
The report of the samples collected had also been received in 2016, after which seven cases were registered in the court of the ADM, the report added.
“In total there were seven cases. The samples tested by the Food and Safety department of the district were found to be sub-standard,” Sharma told The Hindu.
Nestle India, however, told PTI that it was yet to receive the order, and would file an appeal when it does. Calling it an application of incorrect standards, a Nestle spokesperson said, “While we have not received the orders passed by the adjudication officer, we have been informed that the samples are of year 2015 and the issue pertains to ‘ash content’ in Noodles.”
In June 2015, the FSSAI had banned the widely consumed two-minute noodles after it found times MSG and 1,000 times more lead than what was permissible, leading to a nationwide recall of the noodles. The trouble for Maggi, then too, had begun in Uttar Pradesh. It was back on shelves in November 2015.