Mere suspicion about sub-standard food item enough for action:

Food Safety Standards Association of India (FSSAI) today argued in the Bombay High Court that a mere suspicion about a food snack being sub-standard in quality would be a reasonable ground to take appropriate steps to stop the sale of the product.
This was stated by FSSAI Counsel Anil Singh after a bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabwala raised a query whether the food requlator should ban a particular batch of a food item whose quality was found sub-standard or stop the sale of the entire product line.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Nestle India against FSSAI's June 5 order banning nine variants of Maggi and Maharashtra government's order prohibiting the sale of Maggi.

When the matter was called out for hearing today, the government lawyers, representing FSSAI and FDA, were not present, prompting the bench to reprimand the authorities for not taking this matter seriously.
"We (India) have been going around from country to country seeking business but commercial matters (litigations) remain pending for years. These matters are important and that is why Parliament is considering to set up 'Commercial benches' (in courts). People (MNCs) prefer to go to Singapore and London because of this, instead of India for arbitration," Justice Kanade observed.
Anil Singh, senior counsel and acting Advocate General of Maharashtra, said that in the case of Maggi there have been violations of law. Their (Maggi's) label was misleading as it said "No MSG" in contents. Also, the presence of lead in the product was beyond permissible limits, he added.

Singh said that even tobacco was banned in some states because it is harmful for adults. But Maggi was basically consumed by many children in the age group of 1 to 5 years. If lead is found in Maggi beyond the permissible limits, the health of children would be seriously hit, he submitted.
A food article cannot contain contaminated material or heavy metal toxic substance, the FSSAI counsel said.