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Foods maker Nestle India’s lawyers said in court on Thursday that lead in its Maggi noodles was ‘below detectable limits’, during a court hearing as the Supreme court revived the class-action suit by the government against Nestle in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).
“Reports show lead below detectable limits in some samples and only minuscule quantities of lead in others,” Nestle’s lawyer Rajesh Batra said in the court.
Reacting to the justices as to why they should eat noodles if there is any lead, Nestle’s lawyers said: “It was explained by us that the lead is present everywhere and therefore post proper scientific evaluation, a limit of 2.5 parts per million (PPM) is fixed as permissible limit. We do not add any lead to the product and minuscule quantities can come from purely external sources like air, water and grains.”
The lawyers said CFTRI results showed that in some of the samples the presence of lead has been found as traces and far below the permissible limit.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said the report from CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru), where the testing of the Maggi noodle samples was conducted, will form the basis for the proceedings.
Maggi, Nestle India’s flagship brand, was banned by national food regulator FSSAI in 2015 resulting in the company taking a hit of Rs 450 crore and destroying more than 30,000 tonnes of Maggi noodles.
Following the ban, the Union government had moved the top consumer forum alleging unfair trade practices, false labelling and misleading advertisements by Nestlé and sought compensation of Rs 640 crore under provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The brand was cleared by government authorities after five months of the ban. Maggi noodles has since bounced back as category leader with a current share of close to 60%.