By Preetika Rana
NEW DELHI--The U.K.'s food-safety watchdog said Wednesday that
tests on Nestlé SA's instant noodles found the snack safe for
consumption, weeks after Indian authorities banned sale of the
product, alleging elevated levels of lead.
The U.K.'s Food Standards Agency said it collected around 900
samples of the Maggi 2-Minute Noodles, including one variant
imported from India, and found lead levels to be within permissible
limits. The European Union, of which the U.K. is a member, adheres
to some of the world's most stringent food-safety standards.
"Levels of lead in the product are well within EU permissible
levels and would not be a concern to consumers," the U.K. agency
said on its website.
Nestlé on Wednesday said regulators in Singapore, New Zealand
and Australia, other countries where the Swiss food giant imports
noodles from India, also found the snack safe in tests conducted
last month. Authorities in those countries couldn't be immediately
reached for comment.
In India, the company is challenging a nationwide ban on the
noodles in court. Sales of its popular Maggi noodles--which account
for more than one of every two packs of instant noodles consumed in
the world's most-second populous nation--were blocked last month
after India's food-safety watchdog said it found them to be "unsafe
and hazardous for human consumption." Nestlé has repeatedly said
its lead levels are within regulatory limits but is still recalling
and destroying 400 million packets of noodles in India, a process
the company says is likely to take months and cost nearly $50
million in sales.
The food-safety scare triggered a raft of tests of everything
from instant noodles to ready-to-eat pastas in India. It also
pushed regulators in other countries to test Maggi noodles for
lead. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is testing the noodles,
but has yet to release results.
Meanwhile, an Indian court said Tuesday that Nestlé was allowed
to export its noodles, but still couldn't sell them in the South
Asian nation. Nestlé's Indian arm exports noodles to the U.S., U.K.
, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, among other countries. The
company had voluntarily halted exports, even though Indian
regulators had not barred them from doing so.
The court is likely to take a decision on whether to lift the
ban in India later this month.
Write to Preetika Rana at preetika.rana@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for NESTLE SA ORD REG
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=CH0038863350
Access Investor Kit for NESTLE SA ORD REG
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US6410694060
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires