Food safety watchdog orders all Maggi variants off shelves

New Delhi, June 5 India\'s food safety watchdog on Friday ordered all the nine variants Maggi noodles to be \"withdrawn and recalled\" by Nestle and stop further production and exports, since some samples were found to be \"hazardous\" for human consumption.

It has also asked the company to show-cause within 15 days as to why the approval to the firm for the nine variants of \"instant noodles with tastemaker\" given on July 4, 2013 should not be withdrawn.

The order was issued after the company representatives were given a hearing on Thursday at the office of the authority to seek their responses on what steps Nestle had taken to comply with the safety norms prescribed by the food safety authority.

The Nestle team was led by its global chief executive Paul Bulcke and Etienne Benet, managing director and chief executive of India operations.

AAP seeks action against Goa food testing officials

The AAP on Friday demanded action against Goa\'s Food and Drugs Authority, a day after India\'s food safety authority termed the tests it conducted on Maggi instant noodles as \"inappropriate\".

\"Both FDA officials who conducted the tests and Nestle officials in charge of manufacturing the product should be punished by the state government,\" demanded Dinesh Waghela, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party\'s national executive.

If the FDA does not conduct proper tests, then AAP with the help of citizens will carry out the tests of all packed products, not just noodles, in an independent laboratory, he said.

Goa was one of the few states which had given a thumbs up to Maggi after most of the samples, sourced from the Maggi manufacturing unit in the state and the retail market, tested negative for mono sodium glutamate (MGS) and lead.

On Thursday however, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) chairman Yudhvir Singh Malik told reporters in New Delhi that reports of tests conducted by the Goa FDA had been \"sent back\" because they were \"found to be inappropriate\".