Maggi samples picked for analysis

Ritika Jha Palial

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

A team of the UT Food Safety Cell today raided three distributors of Maggi noodles in the city and collected samples for analysis, two days after a government lab in Kolkata detected the presence of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lead content “beyond the permissible limits” in Maggi samples sent from Lucknow.

Three samples were seized, one each from the distributors in the Industrial Area, Phase I and II, and Daria village. “These samples will be sent for chemical testing to the Government Lab, Punjab, in Sector 11 and the results will be received within 14 days,” said Sukhwinder Singh, designated officer, Food Safety Cell.

If the samples are found substandard or unsafe for human consumption, action will be taken as per the FSSA guidelines. It will either result in the seizure of the stocks or recall of the particular batch,” Sukhwinder Singh said.

“Though the samples of the instant noodles in which adulteration was detected were of a different batch and company officials claimed that the batch had been sold off from the market already, our team has randomly picked up samples from here as a standard operating procedure,” he said. Market sources, however, said not much affect had been seen on the sale of Maggi in city markets in the past two days, since the case appeared.