Supreme Court Orders Fresh Testing of Maggi Samples at Mysore Lab

The Supreme Court orders fresh testing of samples of Maggi noodles at Mysore laboratory

The Supreme Court has ordered fresh testing of samples of Maggi noodles at the Mysore laboratory in pursuance of the direction of the apex consumer panel, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). The test report, including earlier ones, will be produced before the court, the SC said, while restraining consumer panel NCDRC from going ahead with proceedings in the matter.

The apex court on Tuesday had sought the Centre’s response to a plea by Nestle India Ltd against an order for the testing of 16 more samples of Maggi noodles in connection with the government’s Rs 640 crore suit against the company for alleged unfair trade practices. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant issued notices to the government on an appeal by the company against the December 9 order of the NCDRC.

The NCDRC had, in a recent order, sent 16 more samples of Maggi noodles for further testing. The SC tagged Nestle’s appeal against the NCDRC order with a plea filed by food regulator FSSAI against the Bombay High Court verdict lifting the ban on nine variants of the fast food and asking the company to go for fresh tests.

In the fresh petition by Nestle, the company has challenged the order passed by the NCDRC. The matter pertains to the government’s petition which has alleged that Nestle India had “indulged in unfair trade practices by false labelling of Maggi noodles inasmuch as it states ‘No added MSG’ prominently on packet, despite presence of MSG.” Monosodium glutamate is a salt used in the food industry for enhancing flavour.