Maggi clears tests by govt approved labs, likely to start sales this month

Nestle India on Wednesday said that samples of its newly-manufactured Maggi noodles had been cleared by government approved laboratories and that the company is likely to start sale of Maggi masala this month.

"We have received results from all three NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited laboratories mandated by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court to test newly manufactured MAGGI Noodles samples. All the samples of the MAGGI Noodles Masala have been cleared with lead much below permissible limits," the company said in a statement, adding that this validates Nestle India's position that Maggi was and continues to be safe.

#MOREGOODNEWS 100% of samples from newly manufactured stocks tested by three laboratories have been cleared. pic.twitter.com/O7abY3f7Vm

— Maggi India (@MaggiIndia) November 4, 2015

It added, "Now that the Orders of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court have been complied with, we will make our best endeavor to commence the sale of MAGGI Noodles Masala within this month as well as continue engaging with States where permissions are needed or specific directions may be necessary. We are presently manufacturing MAGGI Noodles at three of our locations, at Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa) and for the other two locations at Tahliwal and Pantnagar, we are engaging with the relevant authorities in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to obtain directions for commencing manufacture of MAGGI Noodles."

The Swiss consumer goods group had begun production of Maggi in three of its plants in India late last month and had said that once the samples are cleared by the laboratories, they would resume sales.

According to a report in The Financial Times, "Nestle India reported a net loss of Rs 644m ($10m) for the quarter ending in June, its first loss in at least 15 years, after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India banned the production and sale of Maggi noodles due to allegations the product contained dangerously high levels of lead. The company said sales had fallen 20 per cent year on year because of the Maggi noodle ban."

The company destroyed an estimated 350m tonnes of Maggi noodles, "at a cost of Rs 4.5bn, during the quarter", adds the report.