Chennai: The Tamil Nadu food safety and drug administration has directed food safety officials from all the districts in the state to collect samples of Maggi and test it at the government food laboratory within a week. “We have already directed health officials from all the 32 districts to collect the samples from various outlets and test the samples at the state food safety laboratory on all the parameters and make sure that the there is no violation in the permissible levels of chemicals,” said a senior official of food safety department.
He also pointed out that until now no complaints have been received but the food safety department will not comment until final lab test results are out. The samples will be tested on physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters. The physical parameters include smell, odour and colour, while chemical parameters include contents such as lead, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and bacteriological include the levels of micro-organisms and any other contamination.
The results from Chennai are expected to be released by Wednesday afternoon. “We have collected samples from various supermarkets across the city,” said Dr Lakshmi Narayanan, senior health official from the food safety department.
The controversy surrounding Maggi has not affected sales in the city as figures from different supermarkets show that the Nestle product continues to attract regular buyers, supermarket officials said. “Most regular customers, mainly students from other states, have not changed their minds despite the controversy. Sales have been the same as earlier,” said Zubair Ahmmed, an official at a supermarket at Teynampet.
