MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has lifted the nationwide ban imposed by Indian food regulators on Maggi noodles, providing a conditional relief to the popular snack’s manufacturer Nestle India Pvt Ltd as it ordered a fresh test of samples in three independent laboratories across India.
It said that if the fresh tests show that lead content was below permissible limit, then the company will be allowed to manufacture and sell Maggi again in the country.
A division bench comprising justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawalla also set aside the June 5 order of the central government’s Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and also quashed the order of Maharashtra’s Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) banning production and sale of Maggi noodles in India and the state, respectively.
Both the food regulators had in the impugned orders alleged that lead content in Maggi noodles was beyond the permissible limit and asked the company to refrain from selling all nine variants of its product as it may cause harm to public health.
Accordingly, Nestle India, the Indian unit of the Swiss company, had destroyed several thousands Maggi noodles packets by burning them, though the high court had permitted export of this product despite a ban on its sale in India.
The judges, however, ruled that principles of natural justice had not been followed in this case as the company had not been given a hearing on the issue.
The high court was also of the opinion that the labs in which Maggi noodles samples were tested were not affiliated to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
The judges ordered Nestle India to send five samples of each variant to three accredited labs in Punjab, Hyderabad and Jaipur and asked these labs to give their reports within six weeks. The samples would be drawn from 750 crates of samples lying with the company.
The judges refused to grant stay on their order on a plea made by food regulators. They said the company had given an undertaking that it would not manufacture or sell Maggi noodles till the results of the three labs were received.
“The fresh tests would also take some time. Hence, there was no need to grant a stay on the order,” they said.
On a plea made by food regulators that the petition filed by Maggi was not maintainable, the high court said it had the jurisdiction to hear the matter under powers derived by it under the Article 226 of the Constitution.
The bench observed that it was ordering a fresh test of Maggi food snack only in public interest. .
While quashing the orders of the food regulators, the court said that principles of natural justice were not followed because the manufacturer was not given a hearing.
Moreover, the laboratories, where tests were performed to determine lead content in Maggi, were not authorized, the court observed.
The judges refused to grant stay on their order on a plea made by food regulators. They said the company had given an undertaking that it would not manufacture or sell Maggi noodles till the results of the three labs were received.
“The fresh tests would also take some time. Hence, there was no need to grant a stay on the order,” the judges said.
The HC held that the petitions filed by Nestle challenging the nation-wide ban on Maggi noodles was maintainable and that it (the high court) had the jurisdiction to hear it under powers derived by it under Article 226 of the Constitution.
FSSAI and FDA had earlier banned Maggi noodles saying the samples of noodles tested by them contained ‘lead beyond permissible limit’.
Nestle had argued that its product did not contain ‘lead’ in excess of permissible ceiling and challenged the tests by FSSAI and FDA, while the food regulators had said that the lead content in the noodles detected during the tests in reputed laboratories was harmful to public health.
FSSAI had issued the order banning Maggi noodles on June 5, this year while FDA had issued similar order the next day.
During a previous hearing in the court, Justices Kanade and Colabawala had asked both the sides to give their consent for fresh independent test.
However, the parties could not arrive at a consensus to the suggestion mooted by the HC which ordered fresh tests.
Nestle’s lawyer Iqbal Chhagla had earlier said the company was agreeable to the suggestion, but the tests should be conducted in the presence of a renowned scientist and the samples available with the company should be used.
Although the government lawyers did not spell out their stand on challenging the high court order after their plea for a stay was refused by the bench, lawyers involved in the case said they have six weeks to decide about it as the high court had given this much time to the labs to test Maggi samples afresh.
A statement was also made in the high court that in the meantime the company would not manufacture or sell Maggi noodles.
FSSAI and FDA had banned Maggi noodles saying the samples of this product tested by them contained ‘lead beyond permissible limit’. While FSSAI passed the ban order on June 5, the FDA issued a similar order the next day.
Nestle argued that its product did not contain lead in excess of permissible ceiling and challenged the tests by FSSAI and FDA, while the food regulators contended that the lead content in the noodles detected during the tests in reputed laboratories was harmful to public health.
The high court had earlier asked both the sides to mutually decide on a suggestion by the judges to give their consent for a fresh independent test. However, the parties did not arrive at a consensus following which the bench directed the company to go in for a fresh test in three renowned labs across the country.
Nestle’s lawyer Iqbal Chhagla had argued that the company was open to the suggestion given by the judges on going in for a fresh test but said that these tests should be held in the presence of a renowned scientist and samples available with the company should be used.
Darius Khambata and Anil Singh, appearing for FDA, opined that they too were in agreement with the fresh test but one of the samples must be from the lot collected by the food regulator.
The high court, however, made it clear that it was ordering a fresh test of Maggi samples because it had consumer interest uppermost in its mind and also because it wanted the issue to be resolved amicably. -PTI
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