The Bombay High Court said the order banning the product would continue to stand and fixed a follow up hearing for June 30.
Nestlé India went to the Bombay High Court raising issues of ‘interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2011’.
The firm was seeking a review of the order by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The court ordered the agency not to take further action on the notice which required Nestlé India to explain itself within 15 days over the product approval for Maggi noodles.
It also asked the Commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra and FSSAI to file a reply to Nestlé’s claims.
The firm began taking the brand off shelves last week after lead level concerns but insisted the product was safe.
The FSSAI had told the company to withdraw the nine approved variants of the instant noodles after testing found they were “unsafe and hazardous”.
Nestlé told us last week it was not questioning the competency of Indian authorities.
But it does not agree with regulators on testing methodology and is in discussions with them, adding it is open to government authorities inspecting Maggi factories.
FSSAI claims
FSSAI said the three violations were: Lead in excess of maximum permissible levels of 2.5ppm, misleading labelling information on MSG and release of a non-standardised product “Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with Tastemaker” without risk assessment and grant of product approval.
Samples from the Utter Pradesh and CFL, Kolkata found presence of lead at 17.2ppm.
Tests from GNCT, Delhi in 10 out of 13 samples from different batches found lead in excess of the permissible levels.
Worldwide fallout
The noodles are also being investigated in Canada and the UK while Singapore testing has cleared the products.
Nestlé India exports the noodles to the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore and Kenya.
It said it is working closely with regulators in each country to explain the situation in India and some of the products are manufactured in other countries so are not affected.
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke said last week he was confident Maggi Noodles would return “very soon”.
Earlier, the firm said “unfounded concerns” have led to an “environment of confusion for the consumer” which prompted the withdrawal decision.
Nestlé India uses the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) testing protocol.
It has tested around 1,000 batches of Maggi Noodles in its own laboratories, and 600 more batches in an independent laboratory.
These covered batches totalling 125 million (12.5 Crore) packets of noodles.