Instant karma

Noodlegeddon

IT TAKES only minutes to prepare, but India’s most popular processed-food dish is at the centre of a drawn-out dispute over its safety. On June 30th the Bombay High Court said that Nestlé India was free to export its Maggi brand of instant noodles but a ban on local sales remains in place. The Indian subsidiary of the Swiss food giant was making a second visit to the court to try to overturn the ban, which was imposed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on June 5th.

Nestlé’s troubles began when a local food-safety agency in Uttar Pradesh state said it had found excessive levels of lead in the noodles. Nestle insisted they were safe to eat but recalled them hours before the ban was imposed, saying the public’s trust had been compromised. Nestlé has so far incinerated 17,000 tonnes of suspect noodles. Rivals such as Unilever have also pulled their instant noodles from the market until the air clears.

The FSSAI told the court it did not object to Nestlé exporting its noodles, although it stood by its earlier decision to ban them in India. This seems a curious decision given...

from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1C2ysQB