No SC stay on Maggi noodles

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Friday did not press for a Supreme Court stay of the Bombay High Court judgment of August 13 allowing sale of Nestle India's Maggie noodles. It, however, highlighted its problems with testing of food samples, prompting the apex court to seek a response from Nestle India. The matter will come up for hearing on January 13.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by FSSAI, where the latter said the purpose of testing any product was vitiated under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, if the manufacturer was allowed to choose samples of the product to be given for testing. It also said the Bombay High Court had listed laboratories to carry out the tests based on suggestions made by the company.

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It may be recalled that in its August 13 order, the Bombay High Court had lifted the ban on Maggi noodles, directing Nestle to prove within six weeks the product was safe. It had said the re-testing would be undertaken at three independent laboratories in Mohali, Hyderabad and Jaipur. These labs were accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for FSSAI, said there were 70 government labs across the country which had to test thousands of products. "They have to get approval under the new law and this would take time. Till then, the reports of accredited labs should be accepted by courts. If the courts insist on testing samples only at specific labs, it would be difficult to follow the Food Safety and Standards Rules," he said in his arguments.

In response to a mail, a Nestle India spokesperson said, "We will comply with the Hon'ble Court's notice and respond to the FSSAI petition as advised by our lawyers."

Nestle is also facing litigation in the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, which this week directed testing of 16 more samples of Maggi noodles. The government had filed a Rs 640-crore class-action suit against Nestle India in the consumer court, the first such in the country. The government had done this on behalf of Indian consumers, who it said were misled by the company.