From selling Californians their own water at high costs during the worst drought in history to donating millions to fight GMO labeling through the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, Big Food company Nestle is becoming despised more every day. Now, the company’s latest indiscretion has gotten them in trouble with the Indian Government.
The Indian government has filed a class action suit for 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) against Nestle’s Indian unit. The suit was sparked by Nestle selling contaminated goods and ‘trading unfairly’ after a regulator in Uttar Pradesh claimed they found excess lead in a package of Nestle’s instant noodles, with the brand name, Maggi.
Laboratory tests ordered by some state governments found the noodles contained far higher levels of lead than legally allowed. They also found a commonly-used Big Food flavor enhancer, the chemical monosodium glutamate, or MSG, that is not mentioned in the product’s list of ingredients.
Over 2700 packages of Maggi noodles have been tested so far, all of which have levels of lead far exceeding what is allowed.
Nestle has failed to make a public statement except to say that they have ‘stringent’ testing programs of their own. Is that like Monsanto telling us that GMOs are safe?
I hope India wins their case. Someone needs to take down the companies who are run by greedy CEOs who wouldn’t eat the very products they sell if they were starving in one of India’s slums.
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Image credit: AP
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