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A
court hearing has been set for July 1, an official at the local
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
The Uttar Pradesh FDA had ordered a recall of a 200,000-pack
batch of noodles at the end of April, after a spot check which
said showed elevated levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG), a
flavor enhancer, and lead 17 times above the permissible limit.
Nestle, which says it does not add MSG to the noodles, disputes
the order and has said the noodles are safe to eat.
The FDA official confirmed on Monday that the complaint included
Nestle India, as well as the manufacturing unit, the retailer
selling the tainted packs, two Nestle managers and even
Bollywood stars who promoted the 2-minute snack.
Nestle has said the batch in question was manufactured in
February 2014, so was already past its sell-by date in April
this year, and automatically collected from retailers by the
time the recall was announced.
A spokesman for Nestle, which is now carrying out independent
tests, said on Monday the company has not yet been notified of
the complaint, and had no further comment.
The noodles, which sell at roughly a dozen rupees ($0.20) per
single-serving packet, are a hugely popular "homemade" snack in
India, and Maggi has long been the market leader.
($1 = 63.6000 Indian rupees)
(Writing by Clara Ferreira Marques)
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