Tuesday 7 July 2015

Maggi Unsafe only for Indians?


After the Indian Maggi fiasco, countries which import Maggi Noodles from Nestlé India decided to run precautionary tests. According to Nestlé’s website, Nestlé India is currently exporting the masala variant of Maggi to various countries including Canada, UK, Singapore, Kenya and to third parties in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

(The previous reports on the same issue can be viewed here and here.)

It’s rather curious to note that the findings of all these foreign Food Standard Agencies have been in favour of Nestlé. According to the results (discussed below) the lead and MSG content in the noodles are within their domestic permissible limits.
  1. Canada - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) release its Advisory to the consumers on July 2, 2015 stating “The CFIA's food safety investigation did not find any health risk associated with the consumption of Maggi brand noodle products sold in Canada.
  2. The UKFood Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed that results from testing samples of Maggi noodles in the UK have all found that levels of lead in the product is well within European Union (EU) permissible levels and would not be a concern to consumers, through its News Release dated 1 July 2015. The Advisory can be viewed here.
  3. Vietnam – The Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) has announced that tests on samples of Maggi noodles imported from third party distributors in India did not detect lead.
  4. Australia and New Zealand – Testing by the National Measurement Institute in Australia has confirmed that Maggi noodles manufactured in India and imported by Australia are completely safe to eat. Testing showed that levels of lead were well within the acceptable limits set by the regulator, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.
  5. Singapore – Tests by Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) have confirmed that Maggi noodles available in Singapore, including those produced in India, meet Singapore’s food safety standards and do not pose food safety risks to consumers. 

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