US FDA turns heat on India-made food products

After the ban on Maggie by many of the Indian states some time ago for food adulteration, few more cats are slowly coming out of the bag. A data tabled in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website shows more food products from India have been rejected in the US in 2015 than that from any other country.

The data on the website shows that most of snacks that were rejected were made by Haldiram's, a major Indian snacks and sweets manufacturer based out of Nagpur.

For the month of February 2015, the FDA website lists out various Haldiram products under its snacks category in an 'Import Refusal Report' which lists refusal actions taken by the FDA against imported products.

The charge statement for every rejected Haldiram's product reads: "The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to be adulterated because it contains a pesticide chemical, which is in violation of section 402(a)(2)(B)."

According to a Wall Street Journal report, more than half of all the snack products that were tested and then blocked from sale in the US in 2015 were from India. Incidentally, Indian products had led the world in snack rejects in 2014 as well.

The report also said that the reasons for rejection of these products "vary from problems in packaging and labelling to alleged contamination. The FDA website says Indian products have been found to contain high levels of pesticides, mold and the bacteria salmonella."

US FDA had also started to test Nestle Maggie noodles manufactured out of India. Maggie noodles have come under the scanner in India for the past month and has been banned in many states after tests confirmed that the famous instant noodles contained higher than permissible levels of lead and Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).

The FDA website also lists out products of Nestle India  under its noodles and macaroni section of import refusal report. The FDA charged Nestle noodle products of misbranding.