Indian shop owners withdrew Maggi noodles from their shelves after the state's Food Safety and Drug Administration reported that a batch of Maggi noodles in India contains high levels of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG).
"Maggi instant noodles contained dangerous amount of lead and MSG. We had to immediately issue orders against the company," D.G. Srivastava, FDA deputy inspector general in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters in May.
Nestlé is a popular brand from a Swiss-based food giant but the sales of their instant noodles have plunged tremendously following the safety-scare result.
They released a statement earlier this week saying that they followed safety and quality control guidelines in making the noodles.
“We regularly monitor all our raw material for lead, including testing by accredited laboratories which have consistently shown levels in Maggi Noodles to be within permissible limits.”
But even with that statement, the food safety regulator in Uttar Pradesh said that he found lead in the flavoring powder.
“Nestlé claims its products are not harmful but we found lead in the taste enhancer powder,” SK Singh said.
According to the World Health Organization, lead consumption can have serious health effects on children. Exposure to high levels of lead can lead to coma, convulsions and even death.
Even those children who survived lead poisoning may still acquire mental retardation and behavioral problems. It can lower the IQ and will result in lower attention span and antisocial behavior. It can also cause anemia and hypertension and even damage to the reproductive organs.
After this alarming issue, it was reported that Maggi was not the only food product with harmful chemicals. Almost every ready-made or instant food had coloring agents, artificial sweeteners and preservatives in them that impact one's health.
"It will be impractical to put a blanket ban or advise people to stop eating packaged food," said Dr Amitabh Parti, senior consultant, internal medicine, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon. "Government should instead put in place a mechanism to conduct regular audit to ensure chemical use is within permissible limits, and take stern action against defaulters."
