Maharashtra jumps on bandwagon, bans Maggi despite clean chit

After giving clean chit based on 15 samples collected in the state, Maharashtra government has now instructed retailers to return their stocks to the company.

Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Girish Bapat in a press conference in Pune said that Maharashtra government will ban Maggi from tomorrow. According to the reports by Zee 24 Taas, the decision was taken out of concern for health of citizens of the state.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra government had given clean chit to the product otherwise facing ban in various parts of India.

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Harshdeep Kamble had said, "Lead content in Maggi noodles samples we tested were found to be within permissible limits."

Laboratory reports of nine samples collected from Mumbai, Thane and Sangli became available on Friday. These samples showed lead content ranging from .04 to 1.48 parts per million, the senior IAS official said.

The permissible level is 2.5 parts per million.