KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has assured once again that Maggi noodles in the country are safe for consumption, after a statement that it had issued advice to Nestle Malaysia to withdraw its noodles products from the market resurfaced and went viral on social media.
Its director Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the news was untrue and that the Ministry did not issue any such order to the company.
“It was something that happened in India and not in our country,” he said via WhatsApp message.
Dr Noor Hisham was asked to comment on a statement that was spreading on the social media that the Ministry has issued an order to withdraw Maggi Noodles from the Malaysian market, citing it was not safe for consumption.
The statement claimed that the product contained harmful lead and had also been aired on a local television channel.
Checks by the New Straits Times revealed that in June, 2015, India had withdrew the Maggi noodles from its shelves, citing unsafe levels of lead in the snack. This followed tests conducted by Delhi city government where they found 10 out of 13 samples to be unsafe with lead exceeding the allowed level.
The Health Ministry then, in response to this and concerned raised over similar products here, assured that Nestle-owned Maggi noodles in the country were safe to be consumed.
In a news report, Dr Noor Hisham was quoted as saying that the instant noodles in Malaysia were not imported from India.
He added that the Ministry had also verified with the company producing the noodles and found it had gone through the right procedures to ensure it is safe for consumption.
He had said the public need not worry on the safety status of the Maggi noodles as the monitoring and enforcement of food safety by the Ministry was always ongoing to ensure its safety.