The heat over Nestle Ltd's Maggi noodles doesn't seem to be dying down. After several states finding the noodles unsafe for consumption, Gujarat on Thursday announced a month's ban on the sale and storage of maggie noodles after test reports found MSG and unsafe levels of lead in the samples.

Out of the 40 samples of noodles brands collected from across the state, 37 were of Maggie while three were of hakka noodles by S K Foods and ITC's Sunfeast, the government informed.

The state health minister, Nitin Patel today announced that out of the 37 Maggie samples collected for testing, 14 had lead content in the range of 2.6 ppm and 5 ppm higher than the permissible 2.5 ppm. Hakka noodle samples of S K Foods had 4 ppm lead content, therefore they are unsafe for consumption. Hence, an interim ban of one month has been imposed on these products, the minister said.

The government has directed the companies and manufacturers of these noodles to immediately withdraw the 'unsafe' products from the market in the state. And traders in the state have been asked not to sell noodles of these brands.

A case will be registered against the manufacturer under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act.

Also, 29 samples of Maggie and some samples of ITC's Sunfeast noodles were detected with presence of Monosodium glutamate (MSG). They too were found to be unfit for consumption.

These samples were found to be misbranded, hence actions will be taken at the district authority level before the adjudicating officer.

The minister further mentioned that the test reports of the samples will be sent to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), New Delhi for required further action.

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