Bihar government on Saturday announced it was banning the sale, advertisement and storage of 11 other brands of instant noodles after lab tests showed they carried monosodium glutamate in them.
According to Bihar Food Safety Commissioner Anand Kishor, like Maggi, which was banned in the state on June, one brand reportedly also contained lead over permissible limit.
A PTI report said that among the brands that have been banned are ‘Knorr Mast Masala Soupy Noodles’ manufactured by Hindustan Unilever Limited, ‘Foodles Multigrain’ and ‘Ata Masala Noodles’ by Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare, ‘Ching’s Manchurian’ and ‘Veg Hakka Noodles’ of Capital Foods Private Limited.
‘Top Ramen Super Noodles’, ‘Top Ramen Curry Noodles’ have also banned along with the ‘Curry Veg Noodles’ manufactured by Indo Nissin Foods Limited and its ‘Cup Noodles Veggie Manchow’, whose tastemaker was found to contain more lead than permitted.
Kishor said that Sunfeast ‘Yipee Noodles Magic Masala’ and ‘Yipee Noodles Classic Masala’ made by ITC Limited Foods Division too had been banned.
He added, “Lab tests conducted in New Delhi of samples of all these noodles have detected presence of MSG in all of them. This is not allowed in dry food products and also involves the issue of misbranding under provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006. We are banning all these products for a month from August 2 to September 1 as of now.”
The ban on ITC brand ‘Yippee’ comes a day after the the company’s chairman YC Deveshwar said in Kolkata that noodles manufactured by the company under the ‘Yippee’ brand of instant noodles were safe and had passed all the tests.
Bihar government has asked all the retailers to recall their unsold products failing which strict actions will be initiated against them.