Weird? Made-in-India Maggi safe for UK!

After Canada, the British food regulator has declared Nestle's Maggi noodles made-in-India to be perfectly safe for consumption. The food regulator has tested the tastemaker and the noodles separately like its Indian counterpart.

"None of the products tested in the UK so far has given the FSA any indication that EU (European Union) maximum limits have been exceeded," the Economic Times reported, quoting a UK Food Safety Agency (FSA) spokesperson.

"Some of the samples tested consisted of the noodles and flavour combined and others have been tested separately. Where they have been tested separately the levels of lead reported in the flavouring have not given cause for concern," the spokesperson added.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which banned Maggi noodles in June, didn't respond to queries regarding the FSA statement.

Due to the Maggi ban, many companies have withdrawn instant noodles from shops, uncertain about regulatory action, while many costumers have stopped buying packaged snacks.

However, the UK FSA spokesperson said the risks to consumers from lead in food relate to "long-term exposure from the whole of the diet".

Meanwhile, the permissible lead content is expressed differently in the two countries - 0.2g/kg in the UK and 2.5 ppm (parts per million) in India.

Besides the UK, four other countries where made in India Maggi noodles were sent have declared the product safe. These are Canada, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Nestle said there is no difference in the noodles meant for export and for the Indian market. "The noodles made for the export market are produced on the same manufacturing lines as those for the Indian market at our factory in Bicholim," the company told ET in an email.

The company said it follows the same quality standards everywhere in the world - in India, in the US, in the EU, everywhere.

There needs to be greater clarity on the rules in India, said RK Bansal, former director at the food processing ministry and a member of the committee that formulated the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

"There are no guidelines prescribed in the regulations unfortunately," he said. "Due to lack of clarity, Maggi noodles can be treated as one product and the tastemaker can be treated as a different product. Since there are no set guidelines, it is totally up to the analysts in laboratories what they want to do and each analyst may have a different take on this."

Moreover, the British regulator said it didn't test for monosodium glutamate (MSG) content because this is allowed under EU rules. The Indian watchdog had found fault with Nestle over the Maggi noodles packaging bearing a 'No added MSG' message.
(Image: Reuters)