Patanjali gets notice on noodles

Patanjali Ayurved, the FMCG venture promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, on Tuesday said that it has received notice from food safety regulator FSSAI, which had accused it of launching instant noodles without approval.

“We have received notice from FSSAI today and we will give reply to it,” a company spokesperson said without elaborating details.

Last week Central Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had said Patanjali did not have approval for its newly-launched instant noodles, but the company had strongly denied it.

FSSAI chairperson Ashish Bahuguna had stated that no approval or licence was granted to Patanjali for its instant noodles, and for instant noodles companies needed to take prior approval. He had said Patanjali Ayurved have not taken approval for it.

Patanjali, however, strongly denied FSSAI’s claims and insisted that it has licence for Pasta, under which noodles fall, as per the regulator’s classification.

The company said FSSAI has already admi-tted that it was no longer possible for the regulator to continue with pro-cess of product appro-vals, which was facilitated through a 2013 advisory after a Bombay HC order.