Nestle India faces legal action as FSSAI flags baby food quality, promotion violations

The food safety regulator on Friday said it is taking legal action against Nestle India Ltd after finding that a baby food sample violated quality standards and two other infant nutrition products were promoted in contravention of the rules for such products.

Nestle said its products are “fully compliant with all the applicable regulations” and that it will continue to work closely with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ( FSSAI ). The company’s shares fell almost 3% after the news of the regulatory action but recovered to close nearly flat.

FSSAI said a sample of follow-up formula manufactured by the company was found to be substandard with respect to biotin content during laboratory analysis.

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“The sample was subsequently referred for re-analysis, and the referral laboratory also found the sample non-confirming with respect to the prescribed Biotin requirement under the Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Regulations, 2020,” said FSSAI.

The regulations specify a standardized reference range for biotin, more commonly known as vitamin B7, in baby food.

Additionally, FSSAI said it had found issues with the promotion of two other baby food products– NAN Excella Pro Stage 1 and Lactogen Pro 1.

“Both products were found to be in contravention of Regulation 4(2) of the FSS (Foods for Infant Nutrition Regulations, 2020, which restricts promotional claims/material intended to increase the salability of infant foods, and section 3 of the IMS (Infant Milk Substitutes) Act, 1992, which prohibits their advertisement and promotion,” said FSSAI said.

The regulator said it has filed three separate adjudication cases against Nestle India over the three products.

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A Nestle India spokesperson said the two products cited by FSSAI for promotional violations and their labels were approved by the regulator’s expert committee.

“In response to the notice, we have again submitted our detailed response to the authorities regarding statements appearing on the label, which are factual in nature, and supported by scientific literature”, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson did not directly address FSSAI’s claims about the third product.

Nestle fell foul of the food regulator in 2015, when its popular Maggi noodles were banned over alleged excess lead levels and labelling lapses, triggering a massive recall. Maggi later returned to shelves after fresh tests.