The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from Maggi manufacturer Nestle India on an appeal filed by the apex food regulator against a Bombay High Court decision setting aside the ban on the instant noodles.
The manufacture and sale of the popular noodle brand was brought to a halt by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) by an order dated June 5, 2015. Tests conducted on several samples of the product lifted from various States reported excess amount of lead. The Bombay High Court through separate orders passed on August 13 and September 4 set aside the ban and directed the Centre to conduct fresh tests on the noodle sample at labs accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration laboratory (NABl).
The FSSAI represented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was aggrieved not much by the fact that the product had found its way back into the market but expressed concern that the HC held that the labs under FSSAI were not fit to conduct tests on food samples for not being accredited with NABl. Rohatgi sought stay on this part of the order.
The Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant agreed to issue notice but refused to stay any part of the order.
On the question of stay, the court fixed the matter for hearing on January 13 and asked Nestle India represented by senior advocate Harish Salve to file their response before January 5.
Rohatgi said, “The problem is we have 70 labs functioning under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. We are in a fix as labs to have accreditation from NABl will take years. Till such time what will we do. We can deal with the product (Maggi) in January but I want stay to the limited extent that I may carry on my tests.”
Salve said tests conducted by the company showed no excessive amount of lead. He said the tests need to be performed at NABl accredited lab alone as not all labs are capable to test the presence of lead.