Nestle pulls out Maggi Noodles from India stores

Nestle India early on Friday decided to withdraw Maggi instant noodles in India following detection of monosodium glutamate and lead in excess of the permissible limits. The food maker announced that the two-minute noodles would be back in the Indian market as soon as the current situation is clarified.

‘Maggi noodles are completely safe and have been trusted in India for over 30 years. The trust of our consumers and the safety of our products is our first priority,’ the company said in a statement in the early hours of Friday.

‘Unfortunately, recent developments and concerns about the product have led to an environment of confusion for the consumer, to such an extent that we have decided to withdraw the product off the shelves, despite the product being safe,’ it said.
‘We promise that the trusted Maggi Noodles will be back in the market as soon as the current situation is clarified.’

Several Indian states, including Uttrakhand, New Delhi, Gujarat and Indian-administered Kashmir had banned Maggi for 15-30 days and several others had called for tests on the popular noodles after a routine test on a pack from a small-town store found the noodles’ seasoning contained too much lead, about 7 times the permissible limits.