The UK's food safety watchdog confirmed today (5 June) it is testing samples of Maggi noodles for lead after a food safety scare forced Nestle to issue a recall in India.

Indian food safety authorities insist that have detected levels of lead in Maggi noodles that exceed prescribed limits. For its part, Nestle claims the noodles are safe and that its own independent tests found lead within allowable levels.

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Nestle has questioned the testing protocols employed by Indian state authorities. However, the stance was rejected by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which described Nestle's argument as "not… tenable".

The row has taken on a global dimension, first with food safety regulators in Singapore banning the sale of Maggi noodles imported from India and now with the UK's Food Standards Agency launching its own investigation into the safety of the product.

A spokesperson for the FSA told just-food: "The FSA has taken the decision to test for levels of lead in Maggi Noodles as a precaution, following the incident in India… We are currently working with Nestle and the European Commission to investigate a report of higher than expected levels of lead and undeclared MSG in Maggi noodles."

The FSA said Nestle's UK arm only imports one flavour of Maggi 2 Minute Noodles from India – the masala variety. "The batch of noodles originally tested by the authorities in India was not sold in the UK. Other flavour Maggi noodles are not imported from India but from other Nestle factories in other countries," the FSA spokesperson noted.

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