Punjab bans sale, manufacturing of Maggi noodles

The Punjab Government today imposed a ban on sales of Nestle's Maggi noodles and its manufacturing at a plant in the state after the popular instant food's samples were found to be not conforming to the food safety standards.
"We have banned the sale of Maggi noodles and as well as its manufacturing at its Moga plant," State Commissioner Food and Drug Administration Hussan Lal said.
Punjab has now joined five states - Delhi, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Uttarakhand - which have banned Maggi noodles amid mounting food safety fears.
The state government has also asked Nestle to recall Maggi noodles' entire stock from the markets in the state.

The company has been asked to get fresh approval from the Food Safety Department for restarting manufacturing and sale of its products in the state, he said.
"We have conducted lab tests on these products and found more than permitted concentration of Monosodium Glutamate in samples taken from various districts," he said.

However, the lead content was found within the permissible limit, he added.
Punjab government had earlier ordered random lifting of Maggi noodles's samples from across the state for laboratory testing after the allegation of lapses in food safety standards came to the fore.
Samples from Nestle India's factory located in Moga were also picked up for lab testing.