After being off the shelves for five months, Nestle India’s Maggi noodles is set to make a comeback with its popular ‘masala’ variant this month.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the company said that it has got a clean chit for its freshly manufactured samples of the ‘masala’ variant from the three National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited labs. It said the samples tested were found to have lead below the permissible limit.
The popular instant-noodle brand was pulled off the market on June 5, after the Food Safety and Standards of India (FSSAI) banned the sale and production of all the nine variants of Maggi Noodles as the presence of lead in samples was found to be higher than permissible limits.
It also said the company’s “No Added MSG” label was misleading as traces of MSG were found in the samples.
“Now that the orders of the Bombay High Court have been complied with, we will make our best endeavour to commence the sale of Maggi Noodles Masala within this month…,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company has started manufacturing at three of its five plants in the country. “We are at present manufacturing Maggi Noodles at three of our locations, at Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa) and for the other two locations at Tahliwal and Pantnagar, we are engaging with the relevant authorities in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to obtain directions for commencing manufacture of Maggi Noodles,” the company said.
Following the FSSAI ban, Nestle India had moved the Bombay High Court, which had set aside the ban and asked for fresh tests at three NABL accredited labs. After the labs cleared the samples, Nestle had to send samples of the newly manufactured products for further tests.
The company also said that it has conducted over 3,500 tests representing over 200 million packs in national as well as international labs.
Asked whether Nestle had changed the ingredients, raw material or processes involved, a company spokesperson told BusinessLine that the newly manufactured Maggi Noodles continue to use the same ingredients.