After maggi, excess lead found in Yippee noodles; UP FDA to file case

Aligarh (UP): After Maggi, the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has found excess lead in Yippee noodles of domestic giant ITC Ltd and will soon file a case.

The FDA said that the samples of Yippee noodles, seized from a local mall here, have been found to contain lead "far in excess to the permissible limit".

"The laboratory report for these samples, which were received here yesterday, indicated that the lead content which should have been below 1 ppm was found to be 1.057 ppm", Head of Department FDA, Aligarh Division, Chandan Pandey told PTI.

On June 21, FDA authorities had seized 8 samples of different food products from a local mall including the sample of Yippee noodles. These samples were sent to the state laboratory at Lucknow and Meerut for testing, Pandey added.

Stating that excessive lead content can cause serious harm, particularly to children, he said that a report has been sent to the FDA Chief Commissioner for permission before filing an official case.
The process is expected to take a few weeks, he added.

Incidentally, the troubles for Nestle India over 'excess' lead content in its Maggi noodles had also begun in UP first, while food regulators in other parts of the country and the central body FSSAI also later passed orders against the company.

The Bombay High Court, however, recently quashed the ban on Maggi noodles and had asked the government and the company to get the tests conducted again.

Reacting to the development, ITC spokesperson in a statement said that the company has not received any communication from the UP government authorities on the issue and Sunfeast YiPPee noodles are manufactured in modern facilities complying to strict quality and hygiene norms.

"Given that there is no communication from the UP authorities, stories such as this can be misleading and only help create suspicion and mistrust in the minds of the consumer. This will not only damage the brand but also severely impact industry as a whole and future investment for the economy," ITC spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson further said that company has in the recent past carried out tests of more than 700 samples of Sunfeast YiPPee noodles both internally and externally at NABL-accredited FSSAI-approved laboratories in India and international laboratories in Italy, Singapore and Japan and have found that the lead content in all the samples was either not detected, or much below the prescribed limits under the Food Safety Regulations.

All the test results have been posted on the Sunfeast Yippee!'s website, the spokesperson said.

"We manufacture Sunfeast Yippee noodles to the highest standards of safety and quality. We rigorously and regularly test our product for all parameters including heavy metals both in our in-house NABL accredited laboratory at the ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre, Bangalore and external NABL accredited and FSSAI approved laboratories," he said.

"We are confident that our product is completely safe for consumption and complies with all statutory requirements," the spokesperson said.