New Delhi: Rs.45 lakh fine was imposed on Nestle by a court this Tuesday. The fine was imposed on Nestle India regarding a 2015 case for selling substandard instant Maggie noodles after a laboratory test found high content of ash in its popular brand.

Ranjan Singh, a legal officer at the Shahjahanpur district court in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday said, “A fine of Rs.26 lakh was also imposed by the court on the Nestle India distributors”.

This case against Nestle India is one of the several cases that has been filed by regulators after they had found excess quantity of ash, lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG), in different samples of Maggi noodles seized in U.P. between 2015 and 2016.

“The company will appeal against the order” said a spokesman for Nestle India.

“This appears to be a case of application of incorrect standards, and we will file an appeal urgently once we receive the order,” said the spokesman, who did not wish to be named citing company policy.

Maggi, Nestle India’s single-largest revenue earner, was banned in June 2015 for six months across India on allegations that it contained chemicals beyond prescribed limits. The company had to recall 38,000 tonnes of Maggi noodles were recalled by the company from millions of retail shelves and destroy them. The ban was relaxed in November 2015.

 

(Reuters)