Uttarakhand bans Maggi; joins list of states who already banned the food product

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has joined the list of states to ban the sale of Maggi with samples of the popular food product failing laboratory tests.

"A decision to ban the sale of Maggi was taken late last night in public interest by the Food Security Department as 2 of a 300 odd samples of the food product failed laboratory tests," Principal Secretary Health Om Prakash told PTI.

The decision was prompted by the presence of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in the samples sent for laboratory tests to Rudrapur in Udhamsingh Nagar district, he said.

"As the matter concerns public health we lost no time in imposing a ban on the popular food product in Uttarakhand. An order pronouncing the ban and seeking immediate withdrawal of the product from market places is being formally issued today," he said.

However, no lead content was found in the samples tested, the official said, adding that out of the 300 samples sent to Rudrapur laboratory, test results of a majority of them are still awaited.

After test results of all the samples collected from different places across the state arrive they will be sent to Kolkata for the final laboratory tests, the Principal Secretary Health said.

Big retailers like Big Bazar have already withdrawn Maggi packets from their outlets in the city, he said, adding small retailers may take some more time to do so.