The beleaguered Nestle India ltd got some relief on Tuesday, as the Bombay High Court allowed the Indian branch of the multinational firm to export instant Maggi noodles, after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) told the court that it had no objection to the company selling the product abroad.
While making a submission before a Bench of Justices VM Kanade and BP Colabawala that his client had no objection to Nestle India selling Maggi noodles abroad, FSSAI counsel Mahmood Pracha came up with a rider that the apex food safety body stood by its decision to ban nine variants of the food snack in the country for being hazardous to public health.
“Why blame usIJ If the company claims that its product is safe and follows the safety standards then let them export it instead of destroying,” FSSAI counsel Pracha argued before the HC bench.
In a detailed affidavit filed before the HC bench, FSSAI justified its June 5, 2015 ban on Nestle India’s ‘2-minute Maggi noodles’ and questioned the company’s safety claims. It contended that the “present situation has arisen only because the company has failed to adhere to its own declared policy and principles”.
The HC bench was hearing a revision application filed by Nestle India seeking the quashing of the orders of Maharashtra’s Commissioner of Food Safety and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), banning nine variants of its instant Maggi noodles from the Indian market for being “hazardous” to public health.
Hearing a revision application filed by Nestle India’s revision application seeking the quashing of the State and central food safety regulators’ orders banning its product from the market, a HC bench comprising Justices VM Kanade and BP Colabawalla opined that since the product (Maggi) was already off the shelf, no stay on the ban order was required at this stage.