JOIN USNestle, Bollywood stars in soup
Nestle India and Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta have landed in legal soup over Maggi noodles.
“Following Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) Commissioner P P Singh’s permission to file a case against Nestle India, a case has been filed in the court of ACJM (Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate) here,” Barabanki Food Safety Officer V K Pandey said.
The case has been lodged against the company’s Nestle Nagal Kalan Industrial Area unit (Haroli, Una in HP), Delhi-based Nestle India Limited, an Easy Day outlet in Barabanki and the Delhi-based parent firm Easy Day, and their FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) managers, Mohan Gupta and Shabab Alam, Pandey said.
The Uttar Pradesh’s FSDA gave its nod for filing of case against Nestle India after samples of Maggi noodles taken from a store in Barabanki district were found to contain monosodium glutamate and lead above the permissible limit. The tests found that quantum of lead present was 17 times more than the stipulated limit — which is considered hazardous.
Meanwhile, UP officials on Saturday conducted a series of raids at various outlets and godowns in Etawah, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Sultanpur and other districts and sealed samples of the noodles for testing.
Protests
There were also demonstrations in some parts of the state against the sale of Maggi noodles. Workers of different political parties set fire to packets of the noodles at many places and demanded ban on its sale in the state.
The Union Consumer Affairs Ministry has also asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to look into the matter.
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said on Friday that a class action suit can also be initiated in the matter if a complaint is lodged in this regard with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).
Separate cases were also registered against Bachchan, Dixit and Zinta in a Barabanki district court for featuring in Maggi advertisements and promoting the product.
They were filed by BJP leader Santosh Singh.
There were no comments from the company and the actors.