Results of Mysuru lab show Maggi noodles safe

Goa FDA had sent samples for a third test to FSSAI-approved lab after the regulator rejected its findings

One-and-a-half months after Goa's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) had sent five samples of Maggi noodles for re-test at Mysuru's Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), the findings show the product adheres to the requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011.

One of the most credible food referral labs in India, CFTRI is approved by the central regulator, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Earlier, FSSAI had declared the Goa FDA findings 'questionable', following a test of the same samples and had ordered recall of Maggi from store shelves all over the country based on results showing contamination by some four-five states. The Goa FDA, like CFTRI, had not found any contamination in the samples.

The lead content in all these five samples has been reported to be well below the permissible limit and the level of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is negative when analysis was performed separately on the noodles and tastemaker by the Mysuru lab, said an official with the Goa FDA.

CFTRI did not respond to emailed queries on the findings. A CFTRI official, who did not wish to be named, said the lab authorities could not speak on the matter as it was sub-judice. Nestle India, the maker of Maggi noodles, took FSSAI to court over its order to recall the product and stop production in the country. The case is on at the Bombay High Court.

The Goa FDA was perhaps the only state organisation to get a third test done on Maggi noodles. The idea was to restore 'credibility' of the state laboratory in Goa by getting the samples tested at the nationally accredited institute in Mysuru, which is seen as a food referral lab of the longest standing.

Salim A Veljee, director, Goa FDA, had earlier told Business Standard: "We are complying with the recall order of FSSAI. But we have sent the samples to Mysuru for counter-verification. This is only to reinforce our (Goa) lab's credibility."

Following the test at the state government's food lab, the Goa FDA had got a second analysis done at the state pollution control board. Both showed permissible lead content. However, in the results sent to FSSAI, the Goa FDA did not mention the exact quantum of lead as "it was much below the permissible level", according to Veljee. FSSAI called the Goa test result questionable because the lead level was not mentioned.

According to the Goa FDA, the latest findings "do not in any manner give any clean chit to the company (Nestle India) for their products and we fully respect the analytical findings of other state laboratories in this regards based on the analysis of the samples that were drawn by the enforcement officials in those other states and received/ analysed by such other state laboratories.''

Many other countries including Singapore, the UK, and Canada found Maggi noodles to be safe for consumption. FSSAI, however, had termed it 'hazardous' for human consumption.