Supreme Court seeks response from Nestle on FSSAI’s appeal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought a response from Nestle India on an appeal filed by the food regulator against the government’s decision to lift the ban on the company's Maggi noodles.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said he wanted to draw the attention of the top court to the challenges being faced by FSSAI in view of the Bombay High Court’s order to lift the ban on Nestle India’s Maggi noodles.

Maggi instant noodles was banned in June following allegations that it contained excessive lead, traces of?flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate.

Rohatgi, however, did not insist on an immediate stay on the high court order.

A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra agreed to examine the plea.

Nestle India's counsel Harish Salve is expected to submit the response on January 5, 2016.

In its petition, the food regulator questioned the “sanctity” of the samples provided to the government-approved labs for retesting, contending that the high court had asked Nestle to provide samples, whereas it should have been picked randomly from the market.

The petition also claimed that the high court allowed substantial changes in its order when Nestle India filed a plea for correction of the original order on grounds of typographical errors.

After the high court judgement and subsequent testing of Maggi noodles which gave it a clean chit, Nestle relaunched it early last month.

Salve also asked for a stay on the proceedings of the consumer forum, which is hearing a class action suit by the government against Nestlé India and has ordered testing of fresh samples of Maggi. He said that if not stayed, those orders will have to be challenged in the apex court.